Magma and Aqua Turf
by Spark Plug x
Summary: Cassius was an Aqua Grunt who didn't care about his job and found joy in taunting a certain Team Magma Grunt. Natalie was this certain Magma Grunt, who was in love with her commander and couldn't seem to shake that annoying Team Aqua Grunt off. MaleOCxMaleOc OcxVolkner (re-done and re-uploaded)
1. Chapter 1

**First chapters are always boring**

**Please note, basically the entire story will be different. Some elements will be the same though.**

* * *

Cassius woke up lazily, blinking his eyes a few times as he stared up at his ceiling. The sounds of the ocean floated through his always opened window. The waves crashing against the shore, the sounds of the wingulls and pelippers crying out in the morning, the sounds of the city just waking up, it was music to his ears.

Cassius Rushton was a morning person, usually. Cassius was really more of a anytime person. He didn't really dislike any part of the day, or night. He didn't really dislike any day of the week either, mostly just days that he had to work.

He sat up, stretching his back, and pet his umbreon, who was also awake and stretching. "Time for work, boy." He swung his feet off of the bed and stood, stretching one more time before he shuffled around his room, grabbing pieces of clothing.

His room looked messy. He had a surfboard that was leaning against one of the blue walls of the room, and a few posters of bands his listened to hung up on other walls. His bed was unmade, and never was made. His bed was against a large white window that always stayed opened, but prevent things from coming in with a screen. His drawers had clothes hanging out of them and his desk had few books on it, but nothing more than that.

This was just part of his morning routine, or afternoon routine, or whenever he woke up and had to go to work routine. He would grab his bag, and put his uniform in it, blue pants, black and white striped shirt, matching blue bandana, then do the normal morning things, like brushing his teeth, putting on deodorant, running a brush through his messy blond hair that always fell in his face because he was too lazy to style it. He had dark blues eyes and matched the ocean and they were a little dimmed when he remembered he had to go to work.

He grabbed his bag and slug it over his shoulder, leaving the room with his pokemon. His grandpa was already at work, so he grabbed a poptart and headed out. He lived with his grandpa in Lilycove City. It was nice. The city was right next to the ocean and had tons of things to do, like going shopping at the department store or doing contests in the contest hall. Cassius' favorite thing to do was go surfing.

However, today was not a day for surfing. He got onto the beach and called out Siren, his beloved gyarados, and rode him across the salt water to the secret hideout of Team Aqua.

Team Aqua was a 'villainous' organization in Hoenn that was hell bent on creating more water for water pokemon. Their rivals, Team Magma, wanted the opposite, more land for humans. Cassius was a grunt of Team Aqua, and lately he had been hating every second of it.

He joined when he was younger, around the age of thirteen. His parents had left for Kanto three years prior for their job, leaving him to live with his grandpa in Slateport city, where he was born. Cassius' grandpa ending up getting a job in Lilycove, so the two moved there, which is where Cassius ran into Team Aqua.

To a thirteen year old, Team Aqua didn't seem that dangerous. They loved the ocean and wanted more of it, and Cassius loved the ocean and wanted more of it. It was perfect for him, and he looked very good in the uniform, he thought so, anyway.

He learned very quickly that Team Aqua wasn't easy or nice. They were dangerous and serious about their mission. They beat up anyone that got in their way and did anything to get what they wanted. It was rough and Cassius really don't know how he survived the past four years of it, probably his dumb luck had something to do with that.

He arrived at the base and entered it, going down the busy hallways to the locker room, where he changed into uniform.

"Cassius, finally." Shelly, his curly, ginger haired commander sighed when Cassius entered the room she was in after he finished changing. "I was wondering when you were going to finally get your lazy ass here."

"Such a warm welcome." He muttered, but he knew Shelly was joking with him. Shelly could be a bitch, but she was actually pretty funny sometimes.

"Have you fully recovered from yesterday's mission?" Shelly asked, referring to the mission where he had cut his leg on a lose branch. His leg was bandaged, but the medics of the team said it was nothing too bad. They cleaned it up and sent him on his way.

"Still hurts, but I've had worse." He shrugged it off, tying his bandana onto his head. He did have worse injuries, but that's what happened when you ran with Team Aqua.

"Good, I don't need you bailing out of missions." Shelly said, putting her gloved hands on her hips. "As ironic as it seems, you are one of the few grunts that won't screw up an entire mission. Given that, I've decided to assign you a partner."

"Partner?" Cassius questioned, furrowing his brows.

"She's a newbie. Get in here!" She shouted and a girl hurried in. She looked annoyed that she was yelled at and folded her arms across her chest. She was slim, with long brunette hair and violet eyes. "This is Leighton. Leighton, this is Cassius. He'll be your new partner from now on."

"Partner?" Cassius repeated. "I don't understand. Why do I need a partner? We do missions in groups." He explained, not understanding why he needed a partner.

"Sometimes you do solo missions." Shelly replied. "Anyway, she needs to be trained and Archie decided that it was best if each grunt was partnered up with a new recruit. So, take care of her, got it?"

"Yeah, understood." Cassius mumbled as Shelly went off to go give the other grunts their partners. "Nice to meet you, Leighton." He brightened up a little, realizing how moody he probably came off. "So, why did you join Team Aqua?"

"Hm." The girl mumbled with a shrug. "Nothing else to do."

Cassius just stared at her, not sure if she was being serious or not. This girl gave off a snobby vibe and didn't seem too impressed.

"Alright, mission time!" Shelly shouted and left the room. They followed and Leighton stayed right by Cassius' side, afraid she'd get lost.

"No worries, you got partnered up with the best guy." He grinned, taking a hold of her wrist. "Just listen to me and you won't get too badly injured, or arrested."

"What?" She asked, terrified.

* * *

Leighton's first mission didn't go as smoothly as Cassius hoped it would. It wasn't too complicated, but as usual, Team Magma came and got in the way. Commander Tabitha of Team Magma was annoyed, Shelly flirted with him, he called on his right hand grunt, a girl Cassius' age who had an espeon, and then Shelly called on Cassius to battle her, since he had an umbreon and had the type advantage.

"That was horrible." Leighton muttered to herself as they walked home that night. She was back into her normal clothes, something frilly and girly. "I'm going to have to take a three hour shower to get all the dirt and sweat off of me!"

"You'll get used to that." Cassius shrugged. "They literally come and crash almost all of our big missions. The same thing happens each time."

"I don't think I can handle this…"

"Welcome to Team Aqua!"

* * *

**I changed his hair. He'll get a brunet streak in it later. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Gotta get these introductions outta the way…**

* * *

Natalie sprung awake as her alarm went off. She smacked her nightside table a few times before finally hitting the clock and making the irritating beeping stop. Her espeon looked annoyed, like it usually did.

Natalie Chem wasn't much of a morning person, at all. In fact, she despised mornings with a strong passion. She was more of a night noctowl type of girl. She rolled over in bed, cuddling her pillow until her espeon decided that it was time to get up. She cried and whined until Natalie finally sat up and just looked around her room, pushing her blonde hair out of her face.

Her room was relatively…well, organized? It wasn't messy or sloppy, but it wasn't clean. She had posters and drawings of legendary pokemon all over the red walls of the bedroom, along with two bookshelves that had books and plushies of the very pokemon that were on her walls. Her drawers and closet were neat, and organized, but her desk area wasn't. It had books and notebooks piled on it, a trash pin filled with balled up notebook papers, and her desk chair had her belt with her pokeballs on it hanging off the back.

She got up and left her room to go to the bathroom to get ready for the day. She was currently at her father's house, and she could hear him in the kitchen, making breakfast. After brushing her hair and washing her face, she went to change in her room, packed her bag with her uniform, a black dress and a red hood with matching arm and leg warmers, and put her belt on before heading out into the living area.

"Morning." He dad greeted. Her father was a scientist that worked for Team Magma, it was how Natalie got in. Her mother knew that he worked for Team Magma, it was the reason that the two divorced, but she was unaware that her daughter was part of the team as well.

Natalie had been part of Team Magma since she was thirteen and was seventeen now. She had been cornered by Team Aqua grunts just north of Mauville City, the place where she was born and raised and lived currently. Team Magma had come to her rescue and after finding out her father was Dr. Paul, they brought her back to the base and the rest was history.

She finished her breakfast and left for work, eager to see her commander. Commander Tabitha was a large reason for her wanting to join. She didn't really believe in Team Magma's goal, she thought it was a little, well, stupid, but she would follow her commander anywhere. He was strong, snarky, and a great leader. Natalie had been crushing on him since the day she joined, though she didn't think he noticed.

She made it to the base hidden away in the mountain and changed into her uniform swiftly.

"Nate, there you are." Tabitha said once he saw the girl. He looked her over once, making sure she was wearing the uniform properly, something he had done every day since she joined. She had a habit, mostly when she was younger, of having something wrong with her uniform.

"Heya, Commandeerrr." She grinned at him as he sighed. The girl could be such a fool at times, he didn't know why he made her his right hand grunt. "What are we doing today?"

"I'm going on a mission." He said and walked past her. Right on cue, a loud whine emitted from the girl. She turned around and went after the man, grabbing hold onto his cape. "Before you ask, no, you are not coming."

"B-But why?" She asked, furrowing her brows. She always went on missions with Tabitha, always. She was clingy and whiney, but she was only this way with Tabitha.

"Because I said so." He argued and she rolled her eyes, not impressed with his answer.

"That is probably the worst excuse I've ever heard." She muttered, annoyed with her commander. "Fine, whatever." She folded her arms across her chest. "I'm going to go see what's up with Brodie." She turned and walked back down the hallway, towards Brodie's room.

Brodie was the weirdest guy she had ever met. He had weird purple hair with different streaks of color, weird facepaint, and, the ability to be anyone. He was so good at dressing up and acting as other people, it was a little ridiculous. She heard Tabitha call after her, but she pretended that she didn't hear him, and turned down another hallway. She knocked on the door and waited until Brodie opened it.

"Aw, Tabs ignoring you?" He asked, letting her into his room and shutting the door behind her. She glared at him and plopped down on his bed.

"No, but he won't let me go on the mission he has planned for today, probably because we ran into Team Aqua last night and they messed everything up." She muttered, thinking back to the mission. As usual, she had to battle the boy with the umbreon, which is what always happened, while their commanders bickered.

"So now you're ignoring him?" Brodie asked, sitting down on his desk chair.

"No…." Nate trailed off, eyeing Brodie. "I just told him I was coming to see you since I wasn't going on the mission."

"So you are ignoring him now." Brodie chuckled. "You two need to stop doing this. You argue, then he ignores you or something like that, so you ignore him until he can't take it anymore."

"Well he's just being stupid." She muttered, falling back onto the purple haired male's bed. "He's such a knucklehead sometimes."

"But you still love him anyway." Brodie said and she sighed. He was right about that. "You are commander's pet and always will be."

"Urg, I hate that nickname." She growled. She kicked anyone's ass who dared call her that!

"You earned it." He told her, poking her knees. "Always following him around like a lost poochyena since the day you joined."

"I do not." Nate argued, but, she knew she did. "Whatever, I'm going to go train." She huffed, sitting up and glaring at Brodie, before she stood and marched out of his room, hearing him laugh behind her.

* * *

**Next chapters will be longer, I promise**


	3. Chapter 3

**Surprisingly, I don't have every mission of Team Magma and Aqua memorized so I will use my imagination for the most part.**

**Feels weird to be re-writing this.**

**Yeah and most likely I will be combining Nate and Cassius together instead of them getting separate chapters.**

* * *

Cassius watched as Leighton battled against another grunt in the gym. She wasn't bad, but he could tell that battling was not her strong suit. Her piplup was level 15, at best.

Nothing was her strong suit, except sassing Cassius off.

She was horrible at running the course, which was just running, jumping over some hurdles, and lifting a weight or two. She didn't even run, she walked. She walked around the hurdles, stared at the weights before saying 'no' and walking away. She was hopeless.

"Why do you look so hopeless? I won." Leighton said as she walked over to Cassius, who just stared at her. The brunette girl just looked at him back before the blond male stood up.

"Why did you join?" Cassius asked her bluntly, rubbing his face when she shrugged.

"I was boreddddd." She smiled and Cassius just shook his head, having his work cut out for him. He was going to look after his own ass, and hers, on missions from now on.

"You aren't anymore." Shelly said, interrupting the two. "We've got to head to Meteor Falls right away."

"We have to go on a mission? I've been training all day and I'm tired." Leighton complained, but Shelly just shot her a look before she walked off. Cassius grabbed Leighton's arm and pulled her along with him, like he seemed to do a lot lately.

"Leighton, she doesn't care. You're a grunt." Cassius explained as they followed the ginger commander down the hallway. "She's higher in the ranks so you listen to her. Even though I'm just a grunt, I'm her second hand, so I rank above you, meaning you listen to me too."

"I have to listen to the both of you?" She questioned. She hated taking orders.

"No." Cassius said, more hushed now so Shelly wouldn't here. "You listen to me. I've got your wellbeing in mind, Shelly has getting the job done in mind."

* * *

Meteor Falls was nestled up in the mountains just west of Fallarbor Town and North of Rustburo City. It was a large cave and one could get lost very easily in it, which is way Cassius insisted to Leighton that she stay as close as possible. The last thing he needed was her getting lost and him having to try and find her.

The mission seemed simple enough. Get in there and snag a meteorite from Professor Cozmo. The name of the professor made Cassius laugh, because really, Professor Cozmo? Who studied space? He was destined for that job with that name.

All their missions seemed simple though, and they never were. Shelly had the meteorite in her hands and had the geeks in lab coats shaking in their boats when out of nowhere, a mightyena ran up and snagged the meteorite out of her hands. "Go and get it!" She ordered, screaming. Cassius took off running after it, Leighton right behind him with the others.

The mightyena had to belong to Team Magma with the way it was trying to throw them off. It turned sharp around corners and went through narrow passage ways. It also ran past numerous Magma grunts, which was the reason why Cassius was now chasing it alone. The others went off to battle the grunts they passed until he was the only one left. He cursed them, and the pokemon, because he was getting tired and knew he couldn't keep up.

The pokemon took a sharp right turn and he missed it, resulting in him running into someone. "Oh, shit, I'm sorry." Cassius apologized to whoever he ran into to.

"I'm sorry." A female voice said and then he heard a groan. The cave was dim, but he could make out the outline of the girl's Magma hood.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine, maybe you should watch where you're going, you stupid Aqua Grunt!" The girl hissed, obviously pissed at him. "Dammit." She looked around as Cassius dusted himself off. "Where the hell are we?"

"I don't know, I was chasing that damn mightyena and I ran into you." Cassius told her as she began to walk one direction. He ran after her, not wanting to be stuck alone. "Hey, wait, I recognize you! You're Tabitha's grunt, right? The one that's always with him on missions, right? The one with the espeon!" He asked, seeing her blonde hair.

"None of your business. Oh, wait, you're Shelly's grunt, aren't you? How great." Her voice was flat when she said this.

"I'm Cassius." He introduced himself, more excited than the girl was. He'd seen her on almost every mission that Team Magma had interrupted. She was a fierce opponent, and Cassius always enjoyed battling with her. If he wasn't so disinterested in Team Aqua, he would probably be trying to attack her for information or whatever, but he didn't care too much, and she was kinda cute. She looked at him like he was insane and continued walking. "I'm going to keep following you, so we might as well make it pleasurable. Don't be a sour apple, tell me your name."

"Natalie, if you insist. I don't really care to make this little 'walk' pleasurable at all." She spat out, but Cassius let it roll off his shoulders. Nate took a sharp left, but Cassius was right behind her.

"I like your name, Natalie. It's pretty." He started up again, refusing to walk in silence. "So, other than Team Magma, what are your hobbies? I like to surf and swim. That's expected of me though, right? It's pretty stereotypical that I, a Team Aqua grunt, enjoy water activities. I bet you hate them."

"I do."

"Called it." Cassius nodded his head and smiled, though the girl couldn't see it. The passage way they were walking through opened up, so Cassius sped up so he could walk beside her instead of behind her. He had expected Team Magma grunts to not be so….friendly, especially Tabitha's right hand grunt.

"Why are you still talking to me?" Natalie asked, looking at him from the corners of her eyes.

"Nothing else to do." He shrugged and took his bandana off his head and tied it around his wrist. "Besides, I wanna get to know you. We see each other all the time but we never really speak."

"That's because we're on opposing sides." She replied, clearly frustrated.

"Such a Romeo and Juliet feeling, isn't it? Except we're not 'in love' and I'm pretty sure no one will die." Cassius continued. "Well, I might die, that's always up in the air. I'm sure though that I won't commit suicide."

"Please stop talking." Natalie growled, wondering if slamming her skull into the rocky walls would be less painful than this conversation.

"Why? C'mon Natalie, lighten up a little bit. Look, I don't really care if you get the meteorite or not, I was just trying to get it so Shelly won't bitch me out later." Cassius explained. He knew the girl was confused as to why he was being friendly.

"You should care. You are her right hand grunt." Natalie told him, turning to look at him. His blue eyes looked back at her and she turned to face forward. "Not that I did not enjoy our chat, but I have business to attend to." She announced once they got to an opening in the cave that led them outside, just above the entrance. She ran off with ease over the rocks and disappeared before Cassius could say anything.

"There you are!" Leighton shouted from below. She looked relieved that he was back. He slid down the side of the cave and landed in front of her.

"Where the hell did you go? You didn't get the meteorite, did you?" Shelly asked, running up to the two.

"I was chasing that pokemon and got lost in the cave. Glad you know you're worried about my safety." He said flatly to Shelly who rolled her eyes and made the call to head back to the base. They all piled into the helicopter, tired.

"I was worried when I didn't see you with the rest of us." Leighton said, then frowned. "How dare you just leave me with them."

"Leave you in the safety of our teammates? I'm just awful." He replied sarcastically. "I didn't tell you to stay and fight Team Magma." Which now that he thought about it, he was pretty happy she stayed to fight. If she was with him, there was no way he would've gotten to chat with Natalie.

"That's not what I meant." She grumbled, pinching his arm. "Don't just disappear like that. Shelly started yelling at me asking where you were and why didn't we stick together."

"She should be used to it, I always disappear on missions. I come back in one piece, barely." He muttered the last part.

* * *

Natalie stared down the grunts that were on her team. They were training as she watched. She had just gotten back from the mission at Meteor Falls. Tabitha was mad at her because she had disappeared in the cave and he had no clue where she went.

She returned after the rest of the group did, and explained to Tabitha that she had taken a wrong turn and was stuck trying to navigate through the cave by herself.

She knew to be careful, she was on her toes the entire time she was with the Aqua grunt. He was friendly and that was strange. He should've been arguing and fighting her, not striking up conversations and telling her that her name was pretty! She kept her guard up though. His friendlies could've been a trick and Nate refused to be fooled by him. Team Aqua was evil, they had attacked her when she was younger and couldn't defend herself properly. She didn't trust any of them, especially not Shelly's right hand grunt. Cassius had told her he didn't really care about Team Aqua, and his blue eyes didn't seem to be lying, but Nate refused to be played.

"Natalie." A gruff voice next to her said, making her jump. "Relax."

"You startled me." Nate said to Tabitha, who took a seat next to her.

"I could tell. I was calling your name, guess you got lost up in there again." He pointed to her head. "I don't see how you get lost when it's so empty." He teased her and she frowned, smacking his finger away. "I'm just teasing with you."

"You're the one that shouldn't get lost in thought." She replied, rolling her eyes.

"I know you're mad that I lectured you earlier, but that aqua grunt could've hurt you. It was just you and him deep in that cave." Tabitha said, hoping Natalie would understand.

"I was fineeeeee." Nate grumbled, shrugging it off.

"Yeah, but what if you weren't? I don't want him taking advantage of you." Tabitha continued as someone sat down behind them. Tabitha always got onto her for stuff like that. Just because she was a little short (only 5"2!) and she was a girl. Yet, she was the strongest grunt on his team and her blaziken could kick the shit out of anything!

"No one is going to take advantage of me, Tabitha. I can take care of myself." She muttered, frowning at him.

"Pretty sure you said something along those lines when I first met you." Tabitha recalled, thinking back to the first time they met. "It's hard to believe it's been four years."

"Please don't remind me." She grumbled, embarrassed.

"You haven't changed one bit. You still follow me around and harass me." Tabitha chuckled and she blushed, looking away.

"Harass you? You're the one who harasses me!" She exclaimed, biting her lip and glaring at him.

"I dunno, I remember you when you were shorter, if possible, and you'd follow me around all day. So cute! What happened?" Tabitha teased again. "You grew up so fast. Now you're just a little bit taller and you still follow me around."

"I'm heading home. You're getting sappy on me." She playfully punched his shoulders and climbed off the bleachers. She headed to the locker room, changing into her normal outfit and strapped her go go goggles around her neck.

She took the cable car down Mt. Chimney and headed towards the desert. She pulled her go go goggles over her eyes to protect them from the sand that seemed to always be blowing in the desert. That's the only thing she hated about the desert, the constant blowing wind. She hadn't even gotten to go into the desert until last year when he mother gave her the go go goggles as a birthday present.

The desert didn't appeal to too many, but Nate loved it. It had great archaeological sites for her to explore and not a lot of people were there. It was quiet, despite the raging sandstorm, and people left her alone.

"Hey!" A voice called out and Nate inwardly, and probably outwardly, groaned. She turned towards the person, who was hiding behind some rocks with another person. She walked over to them and saw that neither of them looked prepared to be in the desert.

"You guys aren't from around here, are you?" She asked, feeling a little sorry for the two boys. One was blond, with blue and black streaks of hair near his face. His hair was spiked up like a faux Mohawk style and his bangs were blowing in his face. The other one had black hair that went past his ears. He had green eyes that were squinting to look at her.

"You could tell, huh?" He asked. "Yeah, this sandstorm wasn't raging when we came in here earlier, so we figured it was safe."

"We figured wrong!" The blond one exclaimed in a whiny manner.

Nate was only mean in Team Magma and she wasn't going to leave the two males here. "Follow me." She said and the blond boy held onto the black haired male, who held onto Nate's bag she had. She led them out of the desert in no time at all.

"Thank you." The black haired male said, shaking the sand off of him. "I'm Jordan and this is Mikhail. We're from Kanto."

"Natalie, but call me Nate. I grew up around here. You gotta be careful in the desert. You should buy some go go goggles down in Mauville City before you decide to venture out into the desert again." She advised, shaking the sand off of herself.

"I'm never going back in there." Mikhail muttered and Jordan rolled his eyes.

"Thank you again, Nate." Jordan repeated before the two went South towards Mauville City, leaving Nate to go explore the desert once more.

This was the only alone time she really ever got when she was living with her mother for the week. Her mother was very…..loving. Her father was more like her, and the two could spend the whole week together and barely speak and be perfectly fine. It helped that her father knew she worked for Team Magma. Her mother didn't.

"Ringggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg!" Her phone cried and Nate sighed when she saw the caller I.D.

"Hey mom." She greeted, knowing her short time in the desert was up.

* * *

**It's going to get far more action-y, I promise**


	4. Chapter 4

**A lot of people have asked me why I'm re-doing Magma and Aqua Turf, and the answer is pretty simple. My characters have developed a lot since I first came out with the original version of this story. I mostly wanted to re-do the last few chapters, but then I decided to just re-do the whole thing because there were a lot of things I wanted to change. This story will follow the same path as the last one, it'll just have some changes.**

**This chapter is probably going to seem super boring to you all and I apologize.**

* * *

Cassius felt the waves hit his face as he paddled out into the ocean. It was a beautiful day off for him and it was much needed. His muscles ached from work, but that didn't stop him from riding every wave that he could.

"There he is!" Leighton exclaimed, catching sight of Cassius out on the ocean. Mikhail and Jordan stood behind her, neither very impressed. "CASSIUS!" She screamed and the male surprisingly heard her. He paddled back and ran out of the water with his board under his arm.

"Yo." He greeted, approaching the trio. He shook some water out of his hair and smiled at them. "These your friends?"

"Yeah, this is my boyfriend, Jordan." She said, directing his attention to the black haired male. "And Mikhail!" He looked to the blond male with black and blue streaks in his hair, who just crossed his arms.

"Nice to meet ya both, I'm Cassius." He introduced himself, and neither of them were impressed, but Jordan extended his hand and the two shook hands.

"Thanks for keeping Leighton out of trouble while we're away." He said, making Cassius chuckle.

"Eh, she'll end up getting me killed someday." Cassius joked and Leighton pouted at both males. Mikhail stayed silent and it was obvious to Cassius that he was in a foul mood. "You don't like the beach or somethin'?" He asked Mikhail, who pulled himself further back into his hoodie. "I'll take that as a no."

"Mikhail likes to train and battle with his pokemon." Leighton told Cassius. It was obvious to Cassius that Mikhail didn't like him at all, and he was starting to get the feeling that he didn't like Leighton too much either.

"Oh! Then how about a battle?" Cassius offered, trying to get on Mikhail's good side. He was a cute guy, but it was hard to tell when he was practically hiding in his hoodie. "If not me, there's tons of people on the beach who'd love to battle, especially the kids in the inner tubes." He muttered as a kid with a bright yellow inner tube ran by, almost running into Cassius' surfboard.

"All you probably have is water pokemon, so no thanks." Mikhail mumbled and Cassius could barely hear him over the waves.

"Nah, I only got one water type, and it was my first pokemon."

"Me too! Well, my first pokemon is a water type. Almost all my pokemon are water types, actually." Leighton muttered, glancing down at the few pokeballs she had. "We're not a very pokemon diverse group. Jordan has psychic, I have water, and Mikhail has fire."

"I knew it." Cassius replied, grinning. "Kinda easy to spot those who prefer fire types." He thought back to Natalie, she probably preferred fire types too. "All my pokemon were given to me, so I don't really have a favorite type." He walked over to his spot on the beach, which really just had his bag, a towel, and his umbreon stretched out on the towel.

"What was your first pokemon?" Leighton asked, curious.

"Oh, a magikarp." Cassius replied, setting his board down and drying himself off with the towel.

"I didn't realize your parents hated you." Jordan commented, making Cassius laugh.

"It was from my gramps actually, umbreon was from my parents, well, he was an eevee at first. Dude, I love Siren to pieces. Magikarps are cool pokemon."

"I think you mean useless." Mikhail muttered, wondering why Leighton befriended such an idiot. "Hey, Jordan, I wanna get some ice cream! Come on with me so I don't get lost." Mikhail said, slightly whining.

"Yeah, get him some ice cream. I don't know how he's not dying of a heat stroke yet." Leighton murmured. The two boys left and Leighton sighed, plopping down onto the sand next to Cassius' umbreon. "He hates me."

"Who?" Cassius asked, sitting down next to his partner. "Jordan? Isn't he your boyfriend?"

"No, not Jordan. Mikhail. Mikhail hates me." Leighton whined, her hands covering her face. "I think he used to have a crush on Jordan and is mad at me because I'm dating him. He and I haven't always gotten along since I joined their little group a few months ago, but I've been trying really hard to make him like me since I'm dating Jordan now."

"If it makes you feel any better, he hates me too." Cassius told her, patting her back. "It'll be fine, ya just gotta give him some time. He's a real cutie, even if he's a bit of a sourpuss."

"I'm going to try. You think he's cute?" Leighton questioned.

"I think everyone is cute." Cassius shrugged. "Guys and gals are all attractive to me, but yeah, Mikhail is pretty adorable. I'd totally hit that up if he didn't act like he wanted to kill me."

"I think you two could get along! I know he didn't make the greatest impression, but it'd mean a lot to be if you tried to befriend him." Leighton pleaded and Cassius couldn't really say no to her.

"Fine, but you gotta work extra hard at work….do they know you're in Team Aqua?" Cassius questioned.

"Yeah, but I don't think they know what Team Aqua is exactly." Leighton rolled her eyes.

"It'll be fine, I'll protect you so you won't come home bruised and beaten. You wanna meet Siren?" Cassius hopped up, grabbing a pokeball from his bag.

"Your magikarp? Sure." Leighton didn't even try to hide the disinterest in her tone, but got up and let Cassius drag her towards the ocean.

"Okay, come on out Siren!" He called, throwing the pokeball.

"W-What the hell Cassius?!" Leighton exclaimed as a gyarados appeared in the water. It cried out before lowering its head, nudging Cassius affectionately.

"What the fuck is this?" Mikhail questioned as the two boys approached them with their ice cream.

"Siren!" Cassius said turning to the pokemon and scratching the pokemon's large chin. Leighton stepped back, frightened. She had reason too. Gyarados were not friendly pokemon. They were known to go on rampages and destroy cities, but the one in front of them was happily nudging its trainer, who was laughing and scratching its chin in return.

"You…obvious raised it with love…" Jordan murmured, not expecting this.

* * *

Natalie never knew what to do with herself on her days off. She didn't have any friends. She didn't really have any hobbies, except legendary pokemon. However, she didn't really feel like researching any of them today. Her mother was at work, which was probably a good thing because if the woman was home, she'd drag Nate out to the contest hall in Verdanturf Town and Nate was not into that.

Her mother loved things like that though, and she was hoping Natalie would give it a try. Natalie didn't have time to do it, nor the real want to do it. Her mother didn't know about her job and she didn't plan to tell her.

She decided that being at home was just too boring, so she left her mother's house in Mauville City with her espeon at her feet. The two wandered around the city, looking in the windows of shops and just wandering around aimlessly. Natalie slowed down when she saw a girl, around her age with dirty blonde hair in a low ponytail, looking around like she was lost or something. The girl held her wallet in her hands and was obviously distressed.

Natalie knew she was going to regret this, but she approached the girl. "You need help with something?"

"Oh, uh, well…" The girl seemed surprised that someone had stopped to speak to her. "Could you direct me towards the police station? It seems someone stole my wallet. I mean, I have my wallet, I found it, but all my money is gone."

"That sucks." Nate muttered, feeling a little sorry for the girl. She obviously wasn't from around here.

"I'm Lily, by the way. I'm from Snowpoint City in Sinnoh." Lily introduced herself.

"Wow, you're really far from home." Nate said, feeling even sorrier for the girl. "I'm Natalie, just call me Nate." She started to walk, leading the girl towards the police station. Natalie wasn't a huge fan of the police, they often tried to arrest her and her coworkers.

"It's nice to meet you Nate! Thank you so much for helping me out!" Lily exclaimed, hurrying after Nate. "I just left my parents in Kanto and of course this would happen to me." She rambled and Nate thought of Cassius, who had difficulty shutting up as well. "I dunno what I'm going to do. I figured I'd just head home or back to my parents, but how am I supposed to get there without any money? Plus, I really don't want my parents or brother finding out this happened. I might just go and find some people to battle and try to make money that way…."

"There's no way you'd make enough money in one day to get to Kanto or Sinnoh." Nate said and Lily seemed to quieten down as she thought of what she'd do.

"I could just stay at the pokemon center! But Nurse Joy told me this morning that all the rooms are already booked because of some contest event…..I could still sleep on the sofa there…or maybe I'll try camping out?" Lily questioned, trying to come up with good ideas.

Nate was really going to regret this.

"Lily, do you just wanna stay with me?" She asked, stopping and turning to face the girl. Her mother wouldn't mind Lily, at all, she had a feeling the two would get along wonderfully. Despite being in Team Magma, Nate wasn't a bad person.

"R-Really?" Lily asked, surprised by the girl's offer. "Are you sure? I don't wanna be a burden! Plus, you just met me! What if I was a crazy person?"

"I think I could handle it." Nate glanced down at her espeon, who just looked back at its trainer. "My mom won't mind and we have an extra room." She headed back towards her mother's house now and Lily stayed close behind her. She really didn't know why she was doing this and she knew she'd regret it. It was just so unlike her that it frightened her a bit.

"Ah, Natalie! I was just about to call you to see where you were!" Her mother exclaimed the second Nate opened the door. "I got off work early so I figured we'd go grab some lunch and go down to Slateport City to do some shopping in the market."

"Hey mom. I brought a friend home." She used the term 'friend' hoping to make it sound better when she asked her if Lily could stay with them.

"A friend?!" Her mother poked her head out of the kitchen and hurried into the hallway where Lily and Nate were now standing. "Hello hello! I'm Natalie's mother, please call me Ms. Trish! It's so lovely to meet one of Natalie's friends!"

"Hello! I'm Lily!" Lily replied, surprised at the friendliness of the woman. "It's very nice to meet you too!"

"Mom, Lily had her wallet stolen. She found it, but all her money was gone, so I offered the guest room to her." Nate explained.

"That's terrible! Of course you can stay with us, sweetie! You can stay as long as you'd like." Ms. Trish offered. "Now, let me go grab my purse and we can all head down to Slate Port City!" She disappeared down the hallway and into the kitchen once more.

"Thank you so much, again, Nate." Lily thanked her once more, grabbing a hold of one of Nate's hands. She squeezed it tightly, incredibly grateful.

"I couldn't just leave you out there." Nate shrugged as Lily released her hand.

Nate was right about her mother and Lily. The two got along extremely well. Nate and her mother always had a distance between them, mostly because of Nate's job. She kept it hidden from her mother because Team Magma was the very reason why her parents divorced one another when she was eight. Since then, she had been passed back and forth between them every week. It wasn't too bad, especially since they lived only ten minutes away from one another.

Despite them being divorced, her mother and father got along just fine. They were civil and could spend holidays with each other for Natalie's sake. They acted more as friends towards one another than a divorced couple.

"Heyyyyy! Let's double battle!" A child yelled at Lily when she locked eyes with him. She was startled by this as his twin pointed at her, saying the same thing his brother had just said.

"Fine then, let's battle." Nate interjected, joining Lily's side against the two children. The twins sent out their pokemon, a zizagoon and a poochyena. Nate wasn't worried at all about losing and called out her loyal espeon, as Lily called out her leafeon.

It really wasn't a fair fight at all, but the kids had it coming. Within seconds their pokemon were knocked out and they were running away crying with their injured pokemon.

"Thanks for joining me. I really don't battle much, and I hate to battle kids. I feel so bad when I beat them." Lily returned her leafeon and Nate returned her espeon, shrugging.

"I don't feel bad about it. Maybe that'll teach them not to challenge anyone who looks at them." Nate muttered. Her mother was off in the market, having too much fun shopping. Nate and Lily had gone off towards the beach for a shopping break.

"You're really strange, you know that?" Lily told Nate, looking at her. "I mean, you met me today and you're letting me stay with you and hang out with you and your mom, but you're not the overly friendly and helpful type, I can tell. This is really out of your normal zone."

"Something wrong with that?" Nate asked, narrowing her eyes at Lily. She had spent too long dealing with smart mouthed grunts.

"No no no! Nothing wrong with it at all, I'm just pointing that out!" Lily exclaimed, frightened by Nate's expression.


	5. Chapter 5

**Long time no see**

* * *

"This is so stupid." Leighton crossed her arms as they trudged through the darkness of Petelburg Forest. It was tricky to navigate through the darkness, and none of them had flashlights in fear of standing out too much.

There were relics found of Kyogre and Groudon, so of course they were sent out immediately. Shelly led the group, as she usually did. It was far too late at night for Leighton's liking.

"Welcome to Team Aqua." Cassius told her, eying her. "Seriously, though, Leighton, this team is a lot of work. We're not some play group you join when you're bored."

"I'm starting to realize this now…" She mumbled, wondering what she got herself stuck into. "But I can't back out now, can I?"

Cassius thought this over. "Well….ya could….but you'd have to flee the region and never return." He said casually. "Plus Shelly might try and track you down."

"Nevermind." Leighton gulped, keeping her eyes to the ground.

* * *

Natalie pushed through the dense forest with ease. Tabitha was right in front of her, so she stayed close by his side, smiling at him every time he looked to make sure she was still behind him.

She was dead tired though. Lily had kept her up, telling her stories from her childhood. Nate assumed it was because the girl was lonely and didn't have someone to talk to when she traveled. Nate understood that feeling of not having anyone to talk to, so she let the girl talk well into the morning. Nate ended up sleeping all day, causing Tabitha to call her when she was an hour late for work.

She blamed her tardiness on her mother while she rushed to get ready. She ran out the door, yelling to her mother that her dad had found some meteorite and she was going to check it out. Lily had tried to call her multiple times, but Natalie ignored the calls. She was already having to put in extra hours for being late earlier, she didn't want to get in anymore trouble.

Of course, it was going to be difficult for Natalie to hide her job from Lily now. The girl had grown attached to Nate in a very short amount of time, despite Nate grumbling and not being extremely friendly.

Look, she was letting the girl stay with her, did she want her to be nice to her as well?

"Commander, are we almost there?" Nate asked, tone slightly whiny. She really didn't want to be on this mission. She loved being with Tabitha, but she would've been okay he if told her she didn't have to be here.

"Stop whining." He ordered, making her sigh. He was probably still mad about her being tardy. She was sure that if she told him the real reason she was late, he'd laugh at her. Natalie being nice to a stranger? Impossible.

Natalie wasn't all mean. She was just more or less guarded. She had to make sure she was careful. This was a tricky business and one small mistake could land her in jail. She was skillful, no doubt about that, but she tend to let her emotions get to her sometimes and she had to learn to keep them under control.

"Natalie." Tabitha murmured, stopping suddenly. She almost ran into him, snapping out of her thoughts. She looked past him and saw a blue bandana moving along the shrubs. Of course, Team Aqua. She moved past him quietly, already knowing what he wanted her to do.

She crept along and froze just as something yanked her back. A hand was over her mouth and she struggled, thrashing about wildly against her captor.

"Woah woah, relax, Natalie." A male voice said in her ear and she recognized it as Cassius. She looked and saw a girl with long brunette hair and purple eyes looking at her.

"What are you doing Cassius?" She whispered harshly, looking at Natalie. "This isn't what Shelly told us to do!"

"I'm improvising. This is my best mate, Nate." He grinned, letting go of Natalie. She jumped back, hand on her pokeball. She was so angry he caught her off guard and was able to grab her and carry her away from her mission. "I saw you sneaking along so I figured I'd snatch you right up."

"What the hell is wrong with you? Why are you joking about this?!" Natalie spat, confused about his carefree demeanor. This wasn't some joke!

"Relax relax. I don't feel like battling." He told her, shaking his head. "Ya know, Nate, I've seen you for the past three years but we've never really spoken."

"That's because we're on opposing sides, you idiot." She clenched her teeth, feeling her blood boil. She wanted to be back with Tabitha and helping him with the mission. "If you won't fight me, I'll take you two out! I have no problem taking down idiots."

"Cassius, come on!" Leighton whined, grabbing onto his arm. The blonde in front of her was terrifying. She wanted to be back with the others. She was starting to get the creeps from the woods and she could see wrumples everywhere. She shivered as she thought of the bug types lurking in the dark.

"She won't hurt us. She's harmless without her commander ordering her around." Cassius muttered to Leighton, starting to lose feeling in the arm she was gripping onto. He looked over the blonde girl, who was glaring at them. She didn't look that scary, she looked scared. If she was serious about hurting them, she would've already called out her pokemon. "Nate, I'm not too scared of you, sorry."

"Well you should be!" She exclaimed, feeling a little helpless now. She was used to imitating people, but this idiot wasn't buying it. They hadn't hurt her at all, and they weren't calling out their pokemon. Despite her saying so, she really didn't attack people who were defenseless. Something about this boy, Cassius, was throwing her off. He was no threat to her, she could sense that.

"We should hang out some time." He offered and Nate frowned, furrowing her brows. She let her guard down and just sent him a questioning look. "What? Did that throw you off? Why? I'm pretty laid back, Natalie, you should know this. Well, maybe not, since we don't hang out. We should change that. C'mon, what do you say?"

"No. I don't fall for traps." She put her hand on her pokeball again, ready to end this. "Do you really think I'm some sort of idiot?"

"Oh come on, Nate, I'm being legit. This whole running around and stealing thing has gotten quite old and boring!"

"Then why don't you quit?" She questioned, narrowing her eyes. He shot her a look, and she understood.

You can't just quit Team Aqua or Team Magma.

She had thought about it before, multiple times. While she loved Tabitha and wanted to stay by his side, but the risks were getting too large and the stress was taking a toll on her. She couldn't forever evade the police and her mother's questions.

She wasn't about to go skipping off with this male though.

"I was thinking more along the lines of sailing away to another region." He shrugged, a glint in his blue eyes. "You're welcomed to join me."

"Excuse me?" She questioned, more taken back by this offer than the other things he had said. Get on a boat? With him? She began to laugh at this, because this was surely the dumbest thing she had ever heard. "You want me to sail away with you? No way! I barely know you!"

"Oh come on, it's an adventure." He shrugged, not hurt at all by her laughter. She seemed to be a stick in the mud. "I know you want to be freed from this just as much as me."

"Hmp, no thanks." She grumbled, now crossing her arms. She heard her name be called and she glanced at the two grunts before she dashed off, going towards her commander's voice.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Leighton exclaimed, stopping her foot in annoyance. "She could've mauled us! And you're here offering her some Caribbean escape?!"

"Leighton, when you get to be like me, you don't really care about outcomes, you just want something, anything, to happen. I have a feeling she'll come around."

* * *

Natalie was quiet about what happened with Cassius. Tabitha didn't seem to press what she did when he sent her off, and she was grateful for that.

That aqua grunt was a complete idiot! How mental was he to be offering up something like that? To her of all people! She sighed as she stormed home, preferring to walk instead of flying on her flygon. She needed to cool off her head and try to relax. She would have to sneak in through her bedroom window to avoid waking both her mother and Lily.

She just couldn't process all of what happened. She couldn't even process the thought that she was considering his offer! No way would he ever leave her commander's side, right? While thoughts of disappearing and getting out of Team Magma were popping into her head as of late, especially since Lily had grown so attached to her so quickly, she knew it would never happen.

Things had just been off lately, it seemed. Tabitha wasn't treating her fairly and was pushing her off to do missions away from him. It made work unbearable and she dreaded going. Was this the life she really wanted to lead?

This was so stupid. She let that idiot boy get into her thoughts and now she was questioning everything! She climbed into her backyard and crept up to her window. She opened it and climbed through, put her screen back in place, shut it and locked it, then got ready for bed.

Maybe she could take Lily to another region? She did mention her parents were working in the Kanto/Johto region, and Nate had more than enough cash saved to get them both there. She had this urge to protect Lily and she knew being here, working for Team Magma, wasn't protecting her. She had to protect her mother too.

Things were changing, and Nate felt like she knew this all along.

* * *

Cassius felt the heat rise through his body and he knew this was going to be painful.

Shelly always sent him on the shitty jobs, and he was so glad he left Leighton out to watch. He knew they were sent on the mission for disappearing in the night's earlier mission, but forcing Leighton to be a part of this wasn't fair.

"Fuck." He cursed, his arm was shaking as pulled it back, hissing at the pain. He pulled off his bandana and wrapped it around the cut on his arm, hoping to stop the bleeding and to keep it from getting an infection. He grabbed the item he came to steal and slowly and painful pulled himself through a window sill and out of the warehouse. He landed on his feet and stumbled, causing Leighton to leave her post and hurry over to him.

"Cas? What happened?" She asked, a hand on his shoulder.

"Just a tiny scratch. Nothing to worry about. I got the item, so let's just head home. I'll give it to Shelly tomorrow." He told her, starting to head towards the city.

It was dark, especially since it was three in the morning. Cassius' didn't want to show Leighton how much pain he was in, but he gripped at his arm tightly and winced. "I hate this fucking job." He admitted once they were on a proper street. He headed towards the place Leighton was staying at, because he didn't want her walking home alone in the dark.

"Come inside and Jordan will bandage it for you." She told him, taking the lead now. "I don't want whatever little 'scratch' you have to get infected." He went to refuse, but she turned and glared, sending chills down his spine. He didn't dare argue anymore.

She unlocked the door and ushered him inside, locking it behind her. He was surprised to see Jordan and Mikhail were awake and in the living area.

"Jordan, grab the first aid kit! Cassius got hurt!" She ordered. Her boyfriend looked at her, sighed, then went up to fetch the kit.

"What happened?" Mikhail asked, still watching the tv. Even though he asked, he didn't seem too interested. Cassius joined him on the couch, knees weak and tired of standing. He had been up for almost twenty four hours and it was taking affect.

"Mistake with a pipe. The item I needed was in a tight spot." He had no clue if Jordan and Mikhail knew what Team Aqua did. "I've been up for a while, I just wasn't watching myself."

"Then take tomorrow off! You can't work with your arm like that!" Leighton exclaimed when Jordan returned. He sat next to Cassius and slowly unwrapped the bandana, revealing the large cut.

"S-Shit." He whined when Jordan put some alcohol on it to disinfect it. He hissed as Jordan wiped at it, clearing the dried blood. "I can't just take tomorrow off. I got work to do and I don't need Shelly bangin' down my door and lettin' my gramps know what I'm up to." He eyed her. "I go to work injured all the time."

Mikhail eyed the cut, then Cassius as he continued to argue with Leighton. Jordan finished cleaning it and wrapped up the arm with a waterproof bandage, because he had a feeling Cassius wouldn't be able to stay away from water.

"Thanks." He told Jordan, standing and grabbing his bloody bandana. "If you know what's good for ya you'll be at work tomorrow or on the next ferry outta this region." He told Leighton seriously. "Shelly's still pissed at the stunt I pulled today, and unfortunately it means she's pissed at you."

"That's not even fair." She huffed, wondering why she did this to herself. Still, she wanted to stay. She worried about Cassius too much to leave him.

"Life ain't fair." He shrugged while he opened the door. "Later." With that, the door shut and he was gone.


	6. Chapter 6

Natalie groggily stumbled out of her bed, trying to find where she tossed her phone at. It was ringing horribly and she couldn't find it. Her espeon growled and hid under the blankets while she heard her houndoom run down the hallway, it's claws making tapping noises against the floors.

"Baby, hold on." She grumbled to the dog pokemon, who bounded into her room. He jumped on the bed, causing espeon to hiss, and barked.

"Good morning!" Lily was now in the doorwell. Natalie quickly kicked her bag with her uniform in it underneath her bed and found her phone somehow under her nightstand. "When did you go to bed?" She questioned, looking at the dark circles under the blonde's eyes.

"Late." Was her reply as she checked the miss call. It was Tabitha. She tossed the phone back on the bed, planning to call him back later. She was still in a foul mood, but she looked to Lily with a small smile. "Good morning." She couldn't be mean towards the girl. She was a ball of sun and happiness, and right now, Nate's only friend.

"Breakfast is ready!" Lily cheered and left so Natalie could start her morning routine and get dressed. Once she was done, she went to the kitchen, espeon and houndoom on her heels. They went straight to their food, where Lily's leafeon and glaceon were already eating. Her mother's swablu flew around, tweeting happily while her ninetails watched it carefully.

"So I was thinking we go to Lilycove for the weekend!" Her mother was so loud in the morning. Natalie could barely function in the morning, while Lily and her mother were absolutely morning people. Natalie was usually vocal about these trips. The past few years hadn't even easy between the two and Natalie hated contests and coordinating, which was everything her mother loved.

"Sounds cool to me." Natalie said, surprising her mother and herself as she ate a biscuit. She didn't want to fight with her mother anymore, she wanted her to be happy. The woman never asked much of Natalie. "Is there a contest thingy going on?" She would have to call out of work too.

"Yes!" Her mother began to speak and Natalie, while wanting to be happy for her mom, tuned her out. Lily quickly stepped in to carry on the conversation, as she knew Natalie could barely hold conversations this early.

Natalie started to think about how angry Tabitha would be with her. She hated him to be angry, but she didn't care too much anymore. She started to think she was becoming more like Courtney. Things just weren't fun anymore and she wanted to be free.

Maybe she was falling out of love with Tabitha? It felt absolutely awful. Being in love was awful too.

* * *

"What…." Natalie forgot that Lilycove was a beach city. It was bright and the ocean was so blue, it made her a little disgusted. Her mother was quick to take them by the hotel, drop their things off, and force them into the department store. Her mother was going out later with her friend that lived in the city, so Natalie let the woman drag her around the store. Plus, her mother was buying Natalie every book Natalie wanted so she wasn't going to complain one bit.

Soon though her mother was tired of shopping, so they had lunch and she dropped them off at the hotel to go out with her friend. Lily, of course, wanted to go to the beach, and that's where they currently were.

Natalie was hidden under an umbrella while Lily played with her leafeon and glaceon. Natalie's espeon was asleep in the sun, content with life.

"Yooooo! What are you doin' here?"

And now Nate's day was ruined.

"What do you want?" She growled, glancing at Cassius. He wasn't supposed to be here, ruining her vacation.

"Nothing. Just saw you and thought I'd say hey." He plopped down next to her and Nate groaned loudly. She sat up now, noticing Leighton was off in the water with her piplup. Natalie felt slightly anxious, but when she glanced to Cassius, it disappeared. The idiot wasn't that threatening, to her, anyway, and he wouldn't pull something on this crowded beach. "Whats up? Why are you here?"

"Mother." She said and he nodded his head. She saw two males join Leighton and she tensed up. Lily was down there alone with them, and the other two could easily be Team Aqua grunts.

"They aren't in the gang." Cassius murmured, seeing her body tense up. "I honestly don't think they even know what we do. Leighton sure as hell didn't when she joined. That reminds me, I know you hate me, but, if you ever get stuck fighting Leighton or anything, go easy on please."

"Why should I?"

"She has no clue what she's doing. She's more of a socialite, not a criminal like us." He shrugged, looking at her. "I'm trying to get her to leave, but, her friends want to stay here a little longer. She can't quit the gang unless she leaves the region. It would be helpful if I knew someone on the opposing side didn't want to destroy her the second I take my eyes off of her. Watching her back and mine is getting more difficult."

Natalie could relate. That's how she felt with Lily and her mother. "Understood." She said, looking at the group. Lily was now talking to Leighton about her vaporeon and the two seemed to be getting along well.

The two sat like this, in silence and watching their friends. It felt odd to sit here next to her enemy, but, he wasn't really her enemy right?

"I saved their asses when they got lost in the desert." Natalie said, noticing Mikhail and Jordan looked familiar. Cassius busted out laughing at this surprisingly Natalie.

"Those two are kind of assholes. Jordan is Leighton's boyfriend, and Mikhail is the best friend that has a crush on Jordan and hates Leighton." Cassius told her and she raised her eyebrows.

"Seems like a tad problem." She replied, watching them. "I feel bad for Leighton. She can't help it that Jordan likes her and she likes him back. Seems Mikhail needs to move own and try to get over it."

"That's what I think but the kid hates me." He shrugged and Natalie looked at him. "Okay I'm only like, maybe six months older than him but the guy is such a kid sometimes. He's a total hot head."

"And you aren't?" Natalie questioned.

"You're more of a hot head than me. What I mean is that he just ignores me and gets angry at the little things I do. 'Cassius knocked too hard on the door this morning' or 'Cassius got blood on the couch'." He mimicked. "Not my fault Jordan is the perfect nurse for all work related injuries, especially when all the Aqua doctors are off duty."

"You should try to be more careful. Who shall I fight if you are out with an injury?" Natalie questioned, smirking a bit. Cassius' face lit up, happy the blonde female finally made a joke.

"I'd come to battle you, Lady Natalie. You are fierce opponent." He pet Espeon, who just began to purr. "You two sure put up a fight against my boy and I." He glanced at his umbreon and back to Natalie. "If your mom doesn't take up too much of your time this weekend, we should definitely hang out."

"Okay." Natalie said, not even thinking before she answered. He was shocked, and so was she. Maybe this was her body's way of telling her to stop over analyzing, that maybe, just maybe, this boy was serious about getting away. Serious about taking her away to a far better place.

* * *

"Natalie!" Natalie regretted answering her phone the next night. They had gone out, she, Cassius, and the others, and were now on the beach, walking along it. Her phone kept going off, and she didn't want to answer it, but she had to.

"Yes, sir?" She asked and Cassius made a face, realizing who it was.

"Where are you?"

"I called in for this entire weekend, sir. I had to go out of town with my mother." It was actually pissing her off that he was questioning her. He knew she called out. Why was his further harassing her? "Sir I'm very sorry but I have to go." She hung up quickly, sighing. "I just don't understand."

"Why he has such a huge stick up his ass?" Cassius questioned, glancing to the others that were just a little ways ahead of them.

"Basically, yes." She muttered, her mood ruined. She wanted to tell Cassius everything, but she couldn't, could she? That wouldn't be wise, but being on a beach at night with him wasn't either, yet here she was. "It's just been weird lately."

"Bored of it all?" He questioned and she nodded her head. "Look, I know we haven't known each other long and I know you're on Magma's side….but it is nice to find someone who knows the struggle. It seems you're just coming out of the depths, ya know? The 'I love this team' part and into the 'what am I doing here? This isn't what I want' sort of thing."

Cassius made so much sense there, and Natalie found herself nodding her head.

"Like this is fucking weird for you, isn't it? To be this relaxed with the enemy? I think it's because we get each other. We know the pains that these teams bring us. I might be further along than you on this path, but you want out too, right?"

"I'm starting too." She sighed as Mikhail glanced back to them, glaring at Cassius who smiled at him. "Wow he does hate you."

"Yeah. He does." Cassius frowned. "I could tell over the years that it was getting to you. Our battles lately have been less forceful and fierce." He admitted. "That's why I was happy we got lost together in that cave. I wanted to talk to you. I just needed someone who understood."

"I do." She nodded her head, looking to Lily. "I got to think about my future. There's no way they'll get away with their idiotic schemes. That…child…is ruining all of our plans." Natalie began to speak of this teenager that was quickly foiling every mission. "They will team up with the gym leaders and elite four and ruin us. I don't want to be here for that."

"My offer for sailing around the world still stands." He told her, smiling.

"Sail with you? Psh, you'll sink us." She scoffed, shaking her head.

"He can barely keep himself alive. No way he'll keep both of you alive." Mikhail muttered, over hearing them. "Every night it's a different wound. You'll kill yourself one day."

"It won't be I doing the killing, but the dying." He said with a shrug. "Even then I'll be free from this confining hell."

"You're so over dramatic." Mikhail muttered with an eye roll.

"Like you're one to talk." Natalie shot back, hands on her hips. "You just mope about like a kicked poochyena, yet ya don't do anything to better your situation."

"My situation?"

"Yeah, your situation." She repeated sternly, glancing over to Leighton and Jordan.

"Let's fight, ya old hag!"

"I'm not even much older than you!" Natalie exclaimed. "Fine!"

Mikhail sent out his vulpix, who yelped, while Natalie glanced at her belt of pokeballs, deciding which one would be best. "Flygon, let's go!" She shouted, sending out the pokemon.

"This is what happens when two hot heads are put together." Leighton murmured, watching the two battle it out. "What happened?"

"Natalie is defending my honor." Cassius said, mouth open. "He was being a little shit, and she went after him."

"Natalie is very protective." Lily spoke, nodding her head. "She's such a kind hearted girl. She just is…awkward I suppose. She took me in when all my money was stolen. Gave me a place to live and food to eat while I rebuild my money so I head back home, or back to my parents."

"That is very nice of her." Leighton said. "What cash are you short on? I'll cover it!"

"O-oh no, I couldn't take your money! I'd feel horrible!"

"Wanna battle for it?!"

"N-No thank you!" Lily shook her head. She did enjoy to battle, but only at certain times.

A strong sandstorm from Flygon ended the battle in Natalie's favor, earning a smirk from the girl. "Whose an old hag now, little boy?" She asked, returning her flygon to it's pokeball. "Next time think before you speak, or I'll crush you harder."

Mikhail just returned his vulpix to his ball and muttered under his breath angrily.

He stayed quiet for the rest of the night, not in the mood to be crushed by Natalie once more.


	7. Chapter 7

Cassius felt his phone vibrate and he just wanted to sleep. He tossed the phone across the room tiredly, letting it vibrate over and over on the floor.

The weekend was great and he was surprised how great he got along with Natalie. He could tell she was confused about how he was feeling, because he used to feel like that. Conflicted and unsure, but he was happy someone was understanding.

There was banging on his bedroom door and he groaned. "Lay off, gramps! I had a late night!"

"I'm coming in!" Leighton exclaimed and the door swung open. Cassius groggily sat up, rubbing his face as Leighton stood there with Jordan and Mikhail behind her.

"You brought the whole crew." He muttered and sat up further, his comforter slipped off the bed and Leighton covered her eyes. "I'm not naked." He told her and she peaked, then took her hands down. "I do sleep with boxers on, ya know? Shelly has busted into my room by the window multiple times."

"Put a shirt on then." Mikhail grumbled, trying not to stare at Cassius' chest, complete with washboard abs. His cheeks were pink and he looked embarrassed as he huddled up into his baggy black jacket.

"Not like I'm awful to look at, yeah?" Cassius laughed and got out of bed, digging through a pile of clothes on the floor. "Why are you three here anyway? Goin' clean my room?"

"I'd rather not." Jordan muttered, looking at the messy room. Clothes were tossed everywhere in the room.

"Look, if you worked like me, your room would be trashed as well." He spat at Jordan, head aching and three missed calls from Shelly. "Fuck." He cursed and pulled a shirt on and dug for his khaki shorts. "And I'm guessing,_ we_ are late for work." He glanced to Leighton as he grabbed his work bag that had his uniform in it.

"We have work today?" She tilted her head in confusion and he sighed, grabbing his shoes and clicking his tongue. Umbreon followed him at the call and he left the room.

"Yes, we do, and we're late. Prepare that first aid kit, Jordan, because I have a feeling today's mission will be joyful."

* * *

Natalie fiddled with her skirt, glaring at the wall as Tabitha continued his rant.

She was growing tired of this. He hadn't let up since she arrived and she actually was starting to wish she was with Cassius or Lily, even her mother! Anywhere but here. All the fun was gone when she put on her uniform.

The weekend had been the most fun she had had in a while, and she was happy that Cassius felt the same way as she did.

"Are you listening?" He questioned, looking at his grunt.

"Of course, sir." She looked at him, disinterest clear in her eyes.

"Then go and snatch what we need." He turned away. Her eyes followed him as he left the meeting room. A file sat on the table and she opened it, flipping through it.

"Weren't paying attention, were you?" Courtney questioned, sitting up on the table, blowing a bubble with her gum. "The Weather Institute."

"The Weather Institute…by myself?!" Natalie exclaimed, jumping out of her seat. "How could he stick that whole place on me? Courtney, you know I can't do that alone."

"I know. I'm going to talk to him about it now." She grumbled, taking the file. "What did you do to piss him off?"

"Nothing?" Natalie questioned, not exactly sure anymore. "Who knows…"

"He heard you spent the weekend in Lilycove with a boy." She swung her feet, smirking at the younger girl. "A cute boy. He got pictures of him."

Natalie froze and looked at Courtney. Tabitha had pictures of Cassius? Oh god, oh god, Cassius could be in danger. She would be in danger if Tabitha found out who he was.

"Oh, is that your boyfriend? He's attractive. I approve." Courtney laughed at Natalie's red face. "Tabitha hates him, and that's why he's not too pleased with you. I believe Tabitha might have a crush on you. That's doesn't surprise me much. Tabitha isn't too great with his feelings."

"I'm sorry, what?" Natalie's mind was officially broke. She dug in her pocket for her phone, she needed to call someone! "Uh…I gotta go." She hurried out of the room and down the hallway, brushing past people as she dialed a number. She went out a side door, getting outside.

"Natalie?" Lily questioned, a little confused. "What's wrong? Aren't you in the desert?"

"Lily, I haven't been honest with you." She needed to relieve some pressure. "I am actually in Team Magma, that evil organization that is trying to create more land for humans which is really stupid but yet here I am, at work, planning to go steal some expensive equipment tonight…and…and Cassius…and Leighton…yeah they're in Team Aqua. I dunno if they want you to know but I'm under a lot of stress and I can't handle this much right now."

"Okay." Lily replied and it was silent. Nate brushed some volcanic ash off her shoulders and looked over the mountain.

"And my mother doesn't know. At all."

"Got it…." Lily was quiet again and Natalie felt sick. "Okay, well, Natalie, you are a good person, so, I want to give you a chance to explain yourself. How about you tell me the whole story?"

"It started when I was thirteen…"

* * *

"Natalie!" Tabitha called. He saw her flinch and hang up her phone before looking back to him. He glared as she put her phone in pocket. He motioned for her and she walked over to him, her cheeks flushed. "Who were you talking to?"

"My mother." She replied all too quickly. He narrowed his eyes, not believing her one bit. He was the one who taught her how to lie. He didn't say anything, he knew it had to be that _boy _that she was talking to.

"Fine." He turned on his heel and returned inside. "Get ready for the mission and no more phone breaks. The boy can wait." He stalked off, ignoring her questioning face.

He was angry with her, he just didn't exactly know why.

"Tabitha. Darling, you need to get it together." Courtney muttered, popping up beside him. "Who cares if Natalie has a boyfriend? Maybe you should have made your move."

"Shut up!" He exclaimed, cheeks red.

"You know what…that boy…I know him." Courtney thought of it now, and Tabitha was glaring at her, wanting answers. She was regretting saying it, but, it was wrong of Natalie. "He's in Team Aqua. He's Shelly's right hand man."

"WHAT?!" He roared and grunts in the hallway scattered. "Does she know this!?"

"I don't think so. Why would she go be with him if she knew?" Courtney questioned, hoping Natalie could get herself out of this one.

He was pissed. Pissed as hell.

"Natalie isn't stupid. She knows."

Natalie got the cold shoulder from Tabitha all day. Her heart raced every time he came near, and not in a good way. She was ready for him to punch her, yell at her, scream at her, anything. The silence was driving her insane and she didn't know what to do.

So she followed orders to a T and did everything without questioning him.

The Weather Institute was a mess. It was raining and there were so many hostages. The place was not organized and getting what they want took forever. Natalie grabbed it out of the hands of a screaming scientist. "Do us all a favor and shut the hell up." Natalie snapped at him, glaring. "If you continue I'll have my pokemon chew your screaming face off." She stalked off, brushing past the other grunts.

"Do you have it?" Tabitha asked in the walkie talkie.

"Yes, commander, over. I'm heading out now." Natalie replied when she heard a crash. "S-Sir, is everything alright?"

"Police are here, over. Get out." Was all he said before she heard another crash. She took off, running down the stairs with other grunts behind her. It was suddenly cramped and she needed a way out. She ran to the back and kicked out the door, creeping out of it and trying to stay out of police sight.

They were surrounding the front of the building now and she was trapped. She had been like this before, but now, she felt alone. She felt out of place. She felt like Tabitha wasn't going to bail her out on this one. She crept around the back, sliding by the side to escape. The rain was coming now harder and the mud was slippery and dangerous.

"C-Commander…over?" She questioned into her mic, not seeing anyone else on her team.

"There you are." Tabitha startled her, holding onto her arm. He pulled her with him, going through the brush before freezing. "Don't you have the goods?"

"Yeah…" She mumbled, showing it to him. He took it from her and put it in his pocket to secure it and glanced around. Cops were starting to close in. He saw a flash of blue on the ledge above him.

"Shelly." He growled when he saw her orange hair. He glanced to Natalie before he grabbed the ledge and pulled himself up. He ran off after the Aqua Commander. Natalie could take care of herself.

"Commander!" Natalie shouted, trying to lift herself up on the ledge, but failed horribly. She kept trying to but it was just exhausting her. "Commander!" She shouted again, trying to get help, but all it did was alert the cops where she was.

She ran. She ran past them like a child that got caught stealing candy. The cops shouted and went after her, but she kept running. She had never been on her own like this before, with a mob of cops behind her. She ran straight into the forest, hoping she could lose them.

There was no way Flygon could fly her home in this rain, and she had to get cover somewhere. She continued into the next town that was basically just treehouses. It was late now and she had lost the cops, but she couldn't stop here. The cops would be here soon looking for her, she knew it, so she blew through the town and kept going.

She was drenched and her legs had mud all over them and made them heavy. She slowed to a pathetic jog as she entered Lilycove. She was panting and crying at the same time and felt like utter shit.

Tabitha had left her high and dry to get arrested. He took the goods and went after Shelly. There was no way Courtney was right. He couldn't like Natalie.

She stopped at a house and knocked on the door, praying he was home.

"Whose knocking this late?" Cassius answered and froze, seeing Natalie there. She was drenched, her hood plastered to her back, her hair in her face, mud all over her lower half and she looked like she was crying. "Natalie, what the hell happened?!" He pulled her inside and shut the door.

"I-I'm sorry….but…I didn't have anywhere else…to go." She cried, wiping her cheeks as best as she could. "I…there was the raid at Weather Institute."

"Yeah, I saw you there. Didn't you get the goods?" Cassius questioned, guiding her to the upstairs bathroom. "Shelly was pissed about it…what happened?"

"He left me. Tabitha took the goods and went after Shelly and left me alone and outnumbered!" She shook now, angry. "He fucking betrayed me! I fucking followed him for three years and he left me!"

"Hey, shush, it's going to be fine. We'll take care of him, okay? Right now, get out of the clothes, get in the shower while I get you fresh clothes, and I'm getting you something to eat. Do I need to call someone?"

"Call Lily…you can tell her what happened. I told her. She knows about you too, sorry…" Natalie sniffed. Cassius patted her shoulder and left the room, shutting the door behind her. He grabbed his phone from his room and dialed the number. He left some of his clothes by the door and sighed.

"Hey, Lil, it's me, Cas. Yeah, I know, it's late, I'm sorry…Nate's here with me…raid went wrong but I got her so don't worry." He mumbled, heading downstairs to make her something to eat. "Yeah, yeah, I'll call you tomorrow…no problem…night." He hung up and sighed, heating up some soup.

"Uh.." Natalie appeared at the doorway in some of Cassius' boxers and one of his shirts. "Thanks…" She looked so tiny and fragile. "Shitty night."

"It was." Cassius agreed as she walked over and sat down on the bar stool near the island. "Here. Eat." He pushed the bowl of soup in front of her and handed her a spoon. She didn't argue and just took small sips. "So what now?"

"I don't know…Courtney told me Tabitha has feelings for me, but, if he did, he wouldn't have left me like that, right?" She questioned, looking at him. "And…he knows about you…Courtney does too. I don't think they know who you are, but they know I was with you last weekend. I don't know how they know."

"They're watching you?" He questioned, eyebrows raised. "What the hell? Do they have nothing better to do?"

"Apparently not, but, seriously, Cassius, you need to watch out." Nate told him, putting her spoon down. "I don't know how much they know and I don't know what they're going to do to you, or to Leighton." She said and Cassius' expression grew serious. Natalie knew bringing up Leighton would make Cassius take this seriously. "I'm worried about Lily."

"I'll take care of it." Cassius told her and rest his chin in his hand. "I'll just get Leighton out of here and then we can go sail away." He smirked and she rolled her eyes. "You can go sleep in my room tonight, okay? You look like you need sleep."

* * *

Cassius woke up the next morning, a little dazed. He yawned and rolled off of the couch and trudged into the kitchen, needing something to drink. It was only eight, but he figured Natalie might be up. Once he poured himself a glass of oran berry juice he noticed the note on the table written in a scribbly handwriting.

_Cas, _

_ Thanks a lot for last night. I guess I owe you one. Sorry for leaving early but you looked to be sleeping pretty hard and I wanted to leave before the entire city woke up, just incase. _

_ Thanks again, Nate._

He set it back down and yawned, before looking at it again. Natalie did seem like the time to leave before you woke up, she must be awkward with thanking people. He sighed and tossed the note, drumming his fingers along the counter. He sipped his juice and looked out the window, trying to figure out what to do.

He actually had no clue what to do, so he put his glass in the sink and went to get dressed.

* * *

"Open up." Cassius banged on Leighton's door as a group of wingulls flew overhead.

"What?" Jordan questioned, opening the front door with an annoyed face. Cassius walked in, despite Jordan's glares. Jordan slammed the door shut, tired of his girlfriend's partner in crime. He glanced around, looking for the brunette.

"Yo, Leighton!" He called and she poked her head out of her room and Mikhail poked his head out of his room. "We got an issue."

"What is it?" She questioned, coming out of the room.

"You need to leave the region." He told her bluntly, crossing his arms across his chest. "Magma spotted Natalie with me, which means they spot you. I don't know how much they know, but they know, and that's not good."

"What?!" All three of them said at the same time.

"I'm looking out for you three. If they get their hands on you, Natalie can't save you and I can't save you." He shook his head, looking at them. "You guys need to bow out and leave as soon as you can."

"No way, we aren't done here." Mikhail was the first to argue back, sending Cassius a pissed off look. "You can't just go bossing us around."

"I can when I'm trying to save your life." Cassius growled, not playing nice anymore. "You know what happened last night? A drenched, freezing, mud covered Natalie showed up at my doo. Tabitha found out she had spent the weekend here with me, whether or not he knows who I am is up in the air, but he left her hanging on their mission last night. Left her surrounded with cops." He continued, trying to get through their thick skulls. "Tabitha did that to his own right hand grunt. What do you think he'll do to you?"

"He did that to her?" Leighton questioned, scared now. Natalie was fierce and a force to be reckon with. Leighton wasn't so sure what to do now. She thought this would be fun, but now everything was a mess.

"That's why you need to leave."

"We'll think about it." Jordan said, crossing his arms. "We have things to finish up here, and it's not like we can just hop on a boat and leave. Not like you."

"Look, my boat is in kanto. Lot good it will do getting me out of here. I can't leave until you three leave. I can't leave you here to get killed." Cassius was starting to lose his temper with this. "Don't be idiotic you three. Seriously! You think you're strong enough to take them, but, you aren't. I'm not strong enough, Natalie's not strong enough. We don't want to fight. We can't fight."

"So you're going to run?" Mikhail questioned, rolling his eyes.

"I know I act like it's no big deal, but I've been putting up with getting the shit beat out of me and almost getting arrested for the past three years. You think I don't know what I'm talking about?" Cassius questioned, shutting Mikhail up. "We have work at noon, be on time or be out of the region." He told Leighton before he brushed past them and left the house.

* * *

"You're alright, right?" Lily questioned when she saw Nate come in through the front door. "Cas called me, I was so worried!"

"I'm fine…it was just a shit job." She grumbled, going to take off her uniform and wash it before her mother returned home, whenever that was. "I had to crash with Cassius, too many cops to get home."

"Natalie….you're my best friend and I know you've been doing this for years…but…maybe it's time to quit?" Lily suggested, a little nervous at what her friend would say. She didn't want Natalie to get angry at her, but she was worried.

"Maybe.." Natalie sighed, taking her hood off and tossing it in the washing machine. "It's getting too much now. We're close to our goal and I think I can do this anymore. They know who Cassius is, well, maybe not that he's in Team Aqua, but, still. If they know him, they know you, and I don't want them anywhere near you."

"I can take them!" Lily exclaimed, balling her hands in fists. "But, my parents said you and I can come visit whenever we want…"

"That doesn't sound bad." Natalie mumbled, thinking it over. Going off to Kanto would be great and she'd be free from Team Magma's grip.

"Cassius can come…Leighton and Mikhail and Jordan can to." Lily offered, hoping to persuade Natalie.

"I'll see…" She mumbled, making Lily happy. "We have to plan it just right. We all have to leave at the same time, or it just won't work. They'll be onto us."

"I'll call my parents now!" Lily jumped in excitement and ran to get her phone, leaving Nate to finish with her uniform.


	8. Chapter 8

**why didn't I post this sooner it's been done for two months**

* * *

Cassius cracked his back and yawned, tired from work. It was sort of late now and he was wondering if he should eat or just go straight to bed when he felt like someone was watching him. He looked around, not seeing anyone on the empty street. He shrugged it off and continued, but the feeling didn't get any better.

"What do you want?" Cassius questioned, stopping and looking around once more. It was probably a petty thief.

"For you to stay away from my grunt." Tabitha growled, stepping out of an alley way with a few grunts behind him. Cassius turned to look at him, his gut telling him to run, but he was sure they'd catch him, and if he ran, Nate might get in trouble.

"What?" Cassius opted to play dumb, wondering if he could get himself out of this. "What does Team Magma want with me?"

"Don't play dumb, you idiotic Aqua grunt. I know you don't have any water in your ears, so you heard me." Tabitha crossed his arms, furious. This was the boy Natalie had been talking to? He looked like a surfer boy who wore flip flops far too much. What did she find attractive about him? "Stay away from Natalie."

"Why should I?" Cassius questioned, dumping the act. It never worked anyway. "It's not like we're dating or anything. Does she know you're here?"

"She thinks I'm an idiot, obviously." Tabitha growled, ready to punch Cassius in the face. "She's been distant lately and I have a feeling it's your doing. I don't know what you're telling her or what you're doing to her, but it's going to stop."

"All I'm doing is being a friend. I'm not trying to control her life." Cassius argued against the male. He could tell Tabitha liked Natalie, but, Natalie no longer returned his feelings, and that was bothering him. "You're just angry she's not following you around like a lost skitty."

"Shut up, waterboy." Tabitha narrowed his eyes and glanced back to his grunts. "I'm angry because some low life like you thinks he's important to her."

"Oh, so are you here on her behalf? You weren't last night when you left her in the pouring rain, surrounded by cops." He knew he should shut up, because he was going to get Natalie in trouble, but honestly, they were both in trouble now. He had gotten a missed call from Lily early, her voicemail telling him she had important news about an awesome fun trip she had planned for all of them. He was eager to return the call, but had forgotten until now.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about. I got a knock on my door last night from her. She was drenched, cold, covered in mud, and completely and utterly betrayed by you." He nodded his head and glared, not backing down now. "Least I'm there for her. Maybe she likes me because I'm not a boring ass?"

"What?"

"Oh, you heard me, ya hot head." Cassius smirked at how angry Tabitha was getting. "You're angry because Natalie likes me better than she likes you. She's the only girl to ever give you attention, right? I know I'm drop dead gorgeous, but come on, man, lighten up. No need to be so jealous."

"You're about to drop dead. You and that brunette brat of yours." Tabitha shot back and Cassius froze, smirk fading off his face.

"You keep your dirty fucking hands away from her." He was ready to fight him now. No one threatened Leighton. "She's on my turf. She's mine."

"And Natalie is mine." Tabitha told him, happy that he got under Cassius' skin.

"Natalie is her own person, Leighton is not. She's a kid. She doesn't know what she's doing." Cassius knew Leighton was only a year younger than him, but she grew up wealthy. She was a spoiled brat that was trying to explore the world out from under her parents' grasp. She was trying to change and open her eyes more. Cassius wasn't going to let Tabitha near her.

"She's a kid that's in my way. I'll do anything to get to my goal."

Cassius felt his blood boil and his hand was balling up into a fist and slamming into Tabitha's mouth before he realized it. Tabitha stumbled back, holding his bleeding lip in his hand. The grunts launched themselves at Cassius, defending their commander.

It was four against one, and it wasn't a fair fight. Once Cassius was punched in the jaw, he became dazed. He knew he wasn't going to win this fight, especially when he felt the punch to his stomach, but he kicked a grunt back in the jaw, getting at least one of them off of him. This was the worst beating he had ever gotten and he wasn't going to be able to stay conscious if it continued. He grabbed one of his pokeballs and called out his crobat, ordering a smokescreen.

It confused the grunts and he slipped out and returned the pokemon. They didn't know Lilycove like him, so he ran into a nearby alley as the smoke cleared. He wanted to rest, because he could barely walk and it was a miracle he was able to get away, but Tabitha could go straight for Leighton, and he couldn't let that happen. He used the alley way as a back way to Leighton's house and banged on the door, hoping she was alright.

The door opened and Mikhail was there, face already annoyed with Cassius, until he saw how beat up the male was. "Cassius? What the hell happened?!" Mikhail helped him in and over to the couch.

Cassius' lip was bleeding, along with his nose. He was starting to get a black eye and it was clear his body had taken a beating. "Cassius, tell me what happened." Mikhail hurried to get a damp towel to help clean up the blood.

"Where's Leighton?" He asked, standing, but getting dizzy.

"Sit down." Mikhail told him, forcing him to sit down. "She's out in Slateport city with Jordan…on a date." He grumbled, but tended to Cassius' bleeding nose. "Now what happened? Let me call them."

"No, tell them…to stay there tonight." Cassius told him, holding the towel to his nose. Sitting down and knowing Leighton was safe made him feel better. "I got jumped by Team Magma…Tabitha decided I needed to be taken care of.."

"You're fucking with me, right?" Mikhail asked, not believing it. He thought Cassius was being over dramatic.

"No, they're out there somewhere." He groaned, resting his head on the back of the couch. "He threatened Leighton….so I punched him in the mouth."

"You punched him!? Wicked! What happened after that?" Mikhail asked excitedly.

"Obviously I lost the fight." Cassius grumbled, hoping the bleeding would stop. "His grunts jumped me. I had to use crobat's smokescreen to get me out of there. God…fuck…" He groaned. He was in so much pain right now. "This...this is why you three need to get out."

"We'll be f-"

"No, Mikhail, you won't be fine." Cassius sat up now, staring right at Mikhail. "You three don't fucking get it and I don't know why." He complained, frustrated. "You guys don't know these groups like I do. You think it's fun and games and it's not. It's fucking torture. I've been in this group for three years, Mikhail, three fucking years. You have got to trust me, okay? I know you fucking hate me, but you guys have to leave."

Mikhail stared at him and looked away before looking back and sighing. "I don't…I don't hate you." Mikhail admitted. "How could I? You just got the shit beat out of you for defending Leighton."

"Don't you hate her?" Cassius pulled the towel from his nose, pleased to see his nose had stopped bleeding. "She told me about you and Jordan."

"Of course she did." Mikhail's face got red and he looked at the tv, embarrassed. "She never shuts her mouth. Sometimes I really do think I hate her. She hates me."

"No she doesn't." Cassius told him, putting the towel to his lip to try to clean up his lips now. "Every day at work she's asking me what to do about you. She wants you to like her so much, you know. I know you're pissed about her dating Jordan, but, it's not like she knew. She knows you're Jordan's best friend and she just wants to be your friend. She's not trying to get rid of you or replace you. She wants you all to be best friends." He continued and Mikhail was quiet, taking it all in. "I'd rather you hate me than her. I deserve it. She doesn't." Cassius waited another minute, before he stood. "I should be getting home. I have work tomorrow."

"What?" Mikhail jumped up, blocking his way to the door. "Cassius, you can't be serious right now. You can't go to work like this!" There was no way Mikhail was going to let Cassius go get himself killed. "You need to rest, you need to quit. I'm calling Leighton." Mikhail pushed Cassius down on the couch and went to grab his phone.

"Mikhail, if I don't show up, Shelly will come looking for me." Cassius grumbled, trying to get up again, but his body was failing him. "She'll be angry and I can't let deal with that right now. I need to call Nate and tell her what happened…I need to get you three out of here."

"You need to rest." Mikhail told him as he dialed Leighton's number. Cassius reached for his phone, somewhere in his pocket, and dialed Nate's number, settling back into the couch.

"Nate…hey." He was starting to fade out a bit. "No….Tabitha knows…he knows who I am. He thinks you're betraying him…you need to leave. Don't go to work Nate. He'll corner you. No..I'm fine..I'm just a little beaten up."

"Leighton! You need to come home! Cassius just got jumped by Team Magma and he's bruised and bleeding and I think he might have a few broken ribs!" Mikhail shouted into his phone, and Natalie heard everything Mikhail said, and was thus sent into a shouting fit, angry that Tabitha had attacked Cassius.

"Leighton is on her way home." Mikhail told Cassius, who sighed.

"I'll beat the shit out of him!" She screamed.

"Natalie, no, please." Cassius begged her, trying to calm her down. "You need to take Lily and go…what? Lily's parents' place?" He questioned as Natalie explained their plan to escape to Kanto and how she wanted him to come. "I'll…..I'll talk to my grandpa and my parents. How soon can we get out?"

"I'm trying to get the kids out." He told Natalie, making Mikhail stick his tongue out. "Tabitha threatened Leighton and I need to make sure they get out."

"We're here!" Leighton slammed the door open, startling the two blondes in the room. Jordan followed her in and locked the door behind him. "Oh…oh my god, Cassius!" Leighton rushed over to him, panic all over her face.

"Nate, I'll call you later…no, don't come here. You're in enough trouble already, just pack." He hung up as Leighton sat next to him. "I'm okay." He told Leighton.

"You are a liar." She glared, angry at him. "How dare you get beaten up like this!"

"He was threatening you, Leighton. He wants to beat you up too." He told her, trying to sit up, but giving up. "You three need to go."

"No, we can't!" Leighton exclaimed.

"Leighton, he's right.." Mikhail said, shocking his two friends. "We can't stay here….look at what they did to Cassius…" He motioned to him, shaking his head. "We're not nearly as tough as him. We could end up in the hospital…or dead."

It was silent for a few minutes, until Jordan sighed. "We should go then. I'll go look at boat tickets." He left to go to his room.

"You'll come with us, right?" Leighton asked, looking at Cassius hopefully. He shook his head, and she whined. "Cassius, please, you can't stay here! You'll get yourself killed!"

"It wouldn't surprise me." He mumbled, earning a glare from her. "I'm making plans with Natalie and Lily."

"We'll have to meet up somewhere, then." Leighton told him, still hopeful. "We can't just not never see each other again."

"Life isn't fair, Leighton." He told her, patting her knee. "Fate has a way of working things out. Right now, please, focus on getting on the first boat out of here. Go pack, please." He stood now, almost falling over. "I have to go home. I have to talk to my grandpa."

"Cas, it's too dangerous to go out now. You aren't in good condition." Leighton stood with him, shaking her head. "You must have at least a couple of broken ribs, and you're skin will be black and blue tomorrow." She had to look out for Cassius like he had been looking out for her.

"I'm fine." He brushed past her, heading for the door. "I have to call Natalie and make plans. The second you three leave, I have to leave."

"Why don't we leave together?" Mikhail questioned, confused.

"I got us on the first boat out." Jordan told them as he re entered the living space. "Got us the last three tickets."

"I'll see what I can do." Cassius told them, pulling out his phone again. "I'll be there to see you off though."

* * *

"Lily, start packing." Natalie rushed into the guest room, where Lily was sprawled out on the bed. "Cas….Cas just got beat up by Tabitha and some of my coworkers….I….just pack." She hurried out of the room and into her own, pacing a bit.

"What?" Lily followed her, seeing her friend pace around her room. "Natalie…Natalie!" Lily got her friend's attention, unsure of what was happening. "Natalie, tell me."

"I told you! Tabitha found out who Cas was, went to Lilycove, and beat the shit out of him! He's at Leighton's place now and trying to get them out of the region. We need to pack. We need to leave." Natalie was panicked now. She couldn't pack to leave in a few hours! She had to plan, she needed a plan! This wasn't supposed to happen like this. She needed time!

"I'll call my parents and get us tickets out of here, okay? You pack your things. It's not like I have much to pack anyway!" Lily rushed to her room, leaving Natalie alone.

Natalie grabbed her suitcase from under her bed and just started rummaging through her dressers and closet. She couldn't stop to think, she just had to act. Everything was happening so fast and she didn't know what to do.

It didn't matter much, because her old life was gone now, it seemed. Her normal life couldn't exist anymore.

"I got us tickets on the six in the morning ship out of Slateport!" Lily shouted about half an hour later so Natalie could hear her. "And my parents are excited to meet you and Cassius!"

"Great!" Natalie replied, and she felt better after hearing that. She called Cassius, digging through her close. "Cas. Hey. Lily got us tickets. Yeah…" She mumbled, his voice calming her. He was so reassuring about everything and she needed that now. "Six in the morning out of Slateport. Can you make it? What about your grandpa?"

"Gramps knew from the start I think." Cassius muttered, pulling out his own suitcase and packing it. "Told me I was an idiot when I told him I wanted to go to Kanto. He seemed happy about it though. You know, everything is shitty and my body is aching and wants me to stop moving, but I'm feeling hopeful."

"Hopeful?" Natalie questioned, folding her clothes.

"It's a fresh start. I'll get my boat and go sail around the world." This made him smile, but he moved his torso wrong and winced. "Their ship is leaving out of Lilycove's port at five, so I can meet you two in Slateport."

"I'll come get you. Flygon is pretty fast." Natalie told him, sighing. "I haven't told my mom. I think she knows though. I'm just going to tell her I'm going with Lily to visit her parents and I don't know when I'll be home. I'm going off on my pokemon adventure….seven years late but oh well…maybe I'll tell her I'm planning to enter a few contests." She had no clue what she was going to tell her mother, who was coming home soon. She was out late at a birthday party and Nate hoped she was in a good mood when she got home.

"I'm packed!" Lily gave her a salute and hurried into Nate's room to help her. Lily was quick and neat, helping Natalie fit everything into her luggage.

"So…just…I'll meet you at the port and then we'll head to Slateport." Natalie told Cassius before she hung up. "So tell me how my life got flipped upside down in a matter of a week?"

"Fate has a funny way of working, you know." Lily smiled at her friend, reassuring her.

"Natalie?" She heard her mother call out. "Lily?" She heard the woman shut the door and walk down the hallway towards her room. "What…what's going on?" She asked, seeing the girls by the suitcase.

"We're going to visit my parents!" Lily jumped up, taking control. "I'm so sorry it's so sudden, but it's my mother's birthday in two days, so we decided to show up and surprise her!"

"Really?" Nate's mother questioned, looking at them.

"No.." Nate shook her head and stood, sighing. "Mom, I'm in trouble. I need to leave the region. If it makes you feel any better, I'm finally starting that pokemon journey I should have started years ago…." She looked at her mother, who just looked back at her. "And I'm really sorry about this and I can't really explain it all because I just don't have the time, but I just want you to know that I'm going to enter contests and I'm going to try it. I'm going to be a really popular coordinator. I'm going to make you proud."

"Oh..sweetie.." Her mother hugged her tightly, seeming to understand, which surprised Natalie, but she was thinking maybe it shouldn't. "You'll be an amazing coordinator."

"I hope so…and, here." She took her houndoom's pokeball off her belt and handed it to her mother. "You keep him. He loves you more anyway." She shrugged, smiling a bit. "Well…we need to head off to Slateport. We'll stay at the pokemon center, try to get some sleep…"

"Call me when you get on the ship, I don't care how early it is!" Her mother hugged both of them tightly, kissing their heads. "I love you two so much! Please, be careful!"

"We will." Natalie told her, grabbed her suitcase. "Let's go." She told Lily, who hurried to grab her suitcase. "I'll talk to you later, mom!" She went towards the door with Lily behind her. "Behave, don't go partying too much."

"I'm not the one you need to worry about, I should be saying that to you." Her mother called back, and Natalie swore she saw her crying. Goodbyes weren't her thing, so she helped Lily out the door before she shut the door.

"I'm going to miss her." Lily sighed as she rolled her suitcase down the empty streets of the city. "So, how are we getting there?"

"Walking." Natalie said like it was the obvious answer. Lily stopped and stared at Nate, who didn't seem to notice until she didn't hear Lily beside her. "What?" She questioned, turning to look at her best friend. "Lily, we have five hours until we have to board the ship. It'll take maybe an hour to get to Slateport. We won't be sleeping anyway and we don't have another option."

"You're right, we don't…." Lily groaned, now following after Natalie. She knew things were rough for Natalie right now, and she was scared because she was leaving everything she knew. The walk to Slateport might help Natalie clear her head and relax, so she tried to stay quiet. She didn't quite understand everything that was happening, to be honest. She had just found out her best friend was in a criminal organization for the past three years about a day ago, and now she was running away with her and their other criminal friend.

She didn't know why this wasn't freaking her out at all, but, she felt like this was normal. She just clicked with Natalie and with Cassius, and they clicked together so well. Maybe fate was telling her this was okay? Things would turn out fine. She had to stay positive. Natalie needed her right now, and Lily was going to be there for her.

"I'm…sorry I haven't been honest with you." Natalie mumbled as they walked. "I know this is crazy, walking at one in the morning to our escape, but…."

"It's okay, Nate. You're my best friend, you know." Lily reminded her, smiling at her. "You helped me when no one else would. You were nice and giving and I know you might come off harsh and mean, but, I know you aren't. I got really lucky to meet you."

"Shut up." Natalie grumbled, cheeks pink.

"Just take the compliment, geez." Lily rolled her eyes, bumping her shoulder with Nate's. "Tabitha is an idiot, you know. He had something great within his reach, and now you're gone."

"What if he comes after me?" Nate questioned, suddenly terrified. "What if he's there when we try to leave!?"

"He won't be!" Lily told her confidently. "He's probably asleep thinking he's taken care of Cassius and thinking you'll be there at work tomorrow, but, you won't. You'll be with your best friends sailing off to your new adventure. He won't be able to find you."

"But what about my mom?" Natalie questioned. "What about my dad?!"

"Your father has no clue you left, and you know your mother is a force to be reckon with just like you." Lily was going to be positive. This is what Natalie needed. Cassius wasn't here to assist her with this, so she had to give it her all. "We'll go to Kanto and Johto, than maybe Kalos and Unvoa? I guess we can go to Sinnoh, but, my brother will try to get me to stay at home."

"If you stayed at home, you wouldn't have gotten sucked into this mess."

"That's why I don't wanna stay at home." Lily told her, looking at Natalie. "This is the best, you know? I'm really learning a lot. I'm becoming a better person. I think we both are."

"You're positivity makes me sick." Natalie grumbled, pulling her suitcase harder. "How can you do it?"

"Because…self pity is sad and we can't spend our days being negative. Life is really short, and we need to live every day. I've been stuck in a boring icy town guarding a boring temple for forever, so I have time to think. I'm pretty wise…" She smirked before she tripped on a rock. Nate caught her, and looked at her friend. "I'm wise and slightly clumsy. We all make mistakes." Natalie laughed at this and Lily grew embarrassed. "Well, missy, we're sneaking off to Kanto in the middle of the night because of your mistakes."

"Fine, you got me there." Natalie gave in and Lily smiled confidently. "I see the lights of Slateport. We should go to the pokemon center and just rest. I'm going to go to Lilycove and make sure Leighton and the others get off safely, and then bring Cas here."

"Sounds like a good plan!"


	9. Chapter 9

**Like okay wow I was not expecting any reviews? but I got some? **

**Seriously thanks so much! Really!**

**Since I started this story before ORAS came out, it is based off of the original games, however, after a time skip and such, it will sort of be based off the new game? Like you know the teams turning over a new leaf and all that jazz**

**this chapter is a mess? everything I write with Natalie and Cassius is a mess though**

* * *

Mikhail felt like death. It was almost five in the morning and the salty air was making him sick. "This blows." He complained, his bag on his back. Leighton had her purse and her book bag as well and Jordan just had a messenger bag.

"I'm glad you three pack light." Cassius was leading them to the port. It was dark out, but the moon was bright against the ocean. He had umbreon at his feet, scanning the area to make sure it was safe. "Makes everything so much easier."

"It's too early." Mikhail groaned, wanting to be snuggled up in bed.

"Never too early to make a grand escape." Cassius told him, pulling his own duffel bag more onto his shoulder. He winced and knew he couldn't make it much farther like this. He was so beaten up and the hour nap he took didn't help him at all, it only seemed to make it worse. He had hoped one of them would be keeping an eye out for any danger, but all three were too into their own world.

"I can argue that." Mikhail muttered, looking at Cassius, who had a black eye, ruffled up hair, and was walking with a limp. He looked horrible, yet he was still protecting them. "Cassius, you need to go home and rest."

"I'm never going back there." Cassius told him, glancing over at Mikhail. "That's home no longer. Once you three get on that ship, Natalie will get me and I'll be on my way to a new place."

"And we'll meet up, right?" Leighton questioned as they reached the port. The ship was there, already boarding its passengers.

"Of course, give me a call." Cassius told her, dropping his duffel bag on the bench nearby. He glance around again, barely seeing anyone. "You guys go ahead and board."

"But.." Leighton mumbled, sighing. "I'm going to miss you."

"I know, who wouldn't miss me?" Cassius smirked, shrugging. "I'd hug you, but, I'm way too beaten up, so I owe ya one. Now, go get on the boat." He nodded towards the boat.

"We'll see you soon!" Leighton smiled happily and pulled Mikhail and Jordan over to the boat. They got their tickets checked and headed up the ramp. "Be safe!" Leighton called once they got on the boat. She leaned against the railing, waving at Cassius. The ticket man followed them, ushering them onto the ship and telling the others to raise the anchors and get going.

"I'll be fine!" He told her, waving back at her. "We'll see each other again. You know how fate is." He smiled at them, sad to see them go, but was incredibly relieved that they were safe and on the boat. It started to move and he watched it. "Keep her out of trouble!"

"We will!" Mikhail shouted back, waving now too. Cassius pissed him off but he couldn't lie, he really liked him. He really couldn't wait to meet back up with him and get to spend more time with him.

"Fuck!" Cassius shouted as he dodged an ice beam attack. It came out of nowhere but he should have been expecting it.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Shelly screamed at him, ordering another ice beam attack from her sealo.

"Jordan, we have to do something." Mikhail begged him as they got further and further away from the dock. He wanted to jump ship, but, there was no way he could. Leighton gripped the railing, watching.

Cassius dodged an attack as Shelly screamed at him for betraying her.

"How dare you! I taught you everything you know!" She shouted, face red. Leighton had to do something, but, she really couldn't. All she could do was watch as Cassius got the worse end of the stick, while she got off free.

"I had to teach myself! You left me half the time to go run after 'Tabby'." He spat back at her, sending his umbreon after her. He needed Natalie to show up immediately, because he and umbreon couldn't do this much anymore. He just had to distract her enough until the ship was out of her reach, or until Natalie got here.

"He can handle it." Jordan reassured his two friends, trying to get them to relax, even though he was worried about the male himself. Cassius was in no shape to take on Shelly.

"You are an idiot boy! How dare you treat me like this and go running off with that damn magma girl behind my back!" Shelly was pissed as hell now and she wasn't going to let Cassius get out of here alive. "Sealo, body slam!" She ordered and the pokemon slid, slamming into Cassius.

Cassius was sent flying backwards, hitting the cement hard and rolling over towards the edge of the port.

"Cassius!" Leighton screamed, ready to jump ship to help him. Cassius laid there, not being able to get up. He was in too much pain. Umbreon barked, whining at Cassius to get up. "We need to do something!"

"Leighton, we can't do anything." Jordan told his girlfriend, holding her back.

"But…Jordan!" She cried, seeing Cassius laying there as his pokemon tried to fend off the attacks from the sealo. Cassius wasn't moving and he was getting farther and farther away from her. She cried louder, clawing at Jordan's arms to get him to let her go.

"What the hell is that?" Mikhail questioned, squinting his eyes. A flygon landed on the port, shooting a hyper beam at the sealo. "Guys…It's Natalie!"

"What?" Leighton questioned as Natalie climbed off the pokemon's back and ran over to Cassius as her flygon fought off the attacks with umbreon.

"Sorry you kids, you need to get inside." A worker joined them on deck. "We're about to hit some rough currents, so please come inside."

"We can't!" Leighton exclaimed as Natalie screamed at Shelly. Leighton could barely understand her or see them anymore. She needed to know they were going to be okay!

"You have to come in." He told them more forceful now as he shooed them inside. Leighton was still fighting against it, but Jordan forced her inside and glared at Mikhail, who tried to argue against going inside. The door shut and the last thing they saw was Natalie shaking Cassius, trying to get up to get up.

* * *

"C'mon, Cas." Natalie begged, shaking him. "Get up get up!"

He groaned and sat up, slowly, world spinning. "Natalie…" He mumbled as his vision cleared. "What..?"

"I showed up just in time. I thought you were down for the count." She stood now, looking off at Shelly. "Flygon, dragon breath!" She ordered and helped Cassius up. "That old hag blindsided you, didn't she?"

"I was…expecting it…but…the kids got on the ship…" He didn't want to be standing anymore. "Umbreon, return!" He ordered, holding out the pokeball, returning his worn out pokemon.

"How dare you interrupt us!" Shelly shouted and Natalie was ready to punch her. Natalie grabbed Cassius' duffel bag off the bench and hauled it onto her shoulder with ease.

"Oh, shut the fuck up." Nate spat at her, nodded to her flygon to show no mercy in it's attacks. "You go tell Tabitha he can fuck himself, and if I ever see him again, he better pick a god and start praying!"

"We need to go." Cassius stumbled over to her, holding his shoulder.

"Flygon, dragonbreath!" Natalie ordered the attack and it knocked sealo out. "Let's go!" She grabbed Cassius, yanking him along with her. They climbed on flygon and he took off swiftly into the morning sky. "Hold on."

"God, you hurt me." He rested his head on her back, holding his duffel bag. "But thank you…I was about to be a goner…my phone is completely destroyed…" He muttered, patting his pocket where is crushed phone was. "Guess that doesn't matter now.."

"Out with the old." Natalie told him as flygon landed in Slateport by the docks. Lily was there with her and Natalie's bags, waiting eagerly for her friends.

"Oh gee, they really did get you…" Lily mumbled when Cassius got off of flygon.

"Thanks." He grumbled. Natalie held his bag for him and returned her pokemon.

"Let's get on that boat and out of here." She told them, ushering them towards the ship.

"Time for a new adventure!" Lily squealed happily. The two ex-grunts just looked at each other, hoping this was all worth it.

* * *

"What are you reading?" Cassius questioned, peaking over Natalie's shoulders. He was taking a break from fixing his boat and Natalie was sitting on the dock, dangling her feet off the edge of it and reading a book.

"Book about Latias." Natalie replied, turning a page. "Thought you were working on the boat?"

"I am. Taking a break. The control panel is almost done. Then we can go adventuring." He grinned as she turned to glance at him. "How is it going with Lil?"

"She went off to call her parents. Seems her brother wants her back home…I can't really do anything about it. I know she doesn't want to go back to Snowpoint City, but, she shouldn't have just disappeared on her brother like she did."

It had been four months since they left Hoenn. They had spent a month with Lily's parents, trying to recuperate, then they moved on to Cassius' parents. They had his boat and more space for the trio, which pleased Natalie greatly. Cassius got to work on his boat which gave him something else to focus on and helped him with stress, while Natalie got to go to the local library and read all about legendary pokemon. Lily got to run around town and go off exploring, entertaining herself, although now, she was wanted back home in Sinnoh.

"I didn't think guarding a snow temple was that important." Cassius told Natalie, sitting down next to her. "But..thats a family matter, we have no say in it, do we?" He really didn't want Lily to leave them, but, it was probably for the best. Neither of them were in the best places right now. They were trying to adjust to a semi normal life and were still looking over their backs everywhere they went.

Lily was putting up with it, but, it still wasn't fair to her. Sending her back to Snowpoint wasn't fair either, but, they really had no control over it.

"I told her to just stay a month. Talk to her brother about it and actually…you know, talk to him. Sit down and tell him how she feels." Natalie closed her book, sighing. "I don't see why he wouldn't allow her to go travel around Sinnoh and just come home on the weekends."

"I think she needs to go back home and work out her issues with her brother. They need to figure this out." Cassius agreed, glancing out at the small river that led out into the ocean. "We can come get her and take her to Unvoa one week or something. We can work around it."

"I wouldn't mind stopping in Unvoa and checking out their ruins." Natalie mumbled, interested in the region. Legendary pokemon and ruins and myths had always interested her, but now she had more time to research and study. It was relaxing and helped her slide into a somewhat normal life. Plus, she was ready to leave the region.

Being here was fun, but she was starting to feel a bit restless. She wanted to go out and explore now and just do something.

"Looks like I'm going back home." Lily complained, joining them on the dock. "I'll be gone tomorrow. First ship out of here."

"Gee, that's fast." Cassius flipped his wrench in his hand, fiddling with it. "Well, I guess we'll go out tonight for one last hooray. Good news, my boat is almost done, so we'll be coming to visit you soon."

"Really?" Lily questioned, excited. "You guys will really come and visit?"

"Of course." Natalie told her, nodding her head. "We'll call all the time too. You're our best friend, dork."

* * *

"So." Cassius started as he set in his coordinates for their destination. He had gotten his boat up and working a week after Lily left, and of course he and Natalie set off the second they could. "Hows your mom?"

"Good. It's peaceful now in Hoenn. Seems that brat of a kid turned out to be a savior…" Natalie mumbled as she flipped through a book she had as Cassius leaned against the edge of the control panel. "I always hated her. She beat me no matter how hard I trained."

"I liked her. She had that spunk." Cassius chuckled, thinking of the girl. "Archie called her little scamp. Kind of endearing I suppose…."

They both went silent, thinking about it.

Hoenn, and the rest of the world, had almost been destroyed. The two leaders saw what they did wrong and were quick to help the girl who had been trying to stop them all along. She, amazingly, prevented the world from dying.

They weren't too sure what became of the teams after that.

"They won't come looking for us." Cassius reassured Natalie, because he knew she was thinking about it. He knew she took it harder than he did. She had been in love with Tabitha for a long time, and she really had no closure with him. Cassius got closure when Shelly tried to kill him, and he figured that was decent enough for him. "You know, we should look for Leighton and the others…"

"We've tried before." Natalie sighed, her mind moving to another depressing topic. Cassius' phone had been destroyed in the brawl, and unfortunately, Lily nor Natalie had the trios' numbers and vice versa. They tried looking them up, but, that was difficult in itself and it led them nowhere. "Cassius, it's a huge world.."

"Fate will work it's magic, Natalie. Look how we turned out?"

"Mentally fucked up and forever scarred?" She questioned, shooting him a look. "We have no clue where we're even going, or what we're going to do with our lives. We have no real skills, other than those of a villainous nature, and we have tons of skeletons in our closets." She was frustrated so much. She thought this would be a fresh start, but she still had baggage.

"Natalie, it's only been four months." Cassius told her, trying to make her feel better. "Four months isn't enough time to heal or to figure life out. God, we're only eighteen you know." He reminded her, shaking his head. "We've got so much time in the world. We don't have to follow anyone's orders anymore. We're free."

"Barely." She sighed, feeling hopeless. "So where are we going?"

"Felt like Olivine would be a nice place to hit up. It has great beaches and good food." He told her, hoping to make her feel better. "About two hours to get there."

"Sounds good. I'm going to take a nap." Natalie told him, leaving the control room.

* * *

"First stop of our adventure." Cassius sighed happily as they strolled around Olivine. He bumped shoulders with Natalie, smirking at her. "Wonderful supply of attractive people."

"They're so tan." Natalie mumbled, staying close to Cassius. This was the first time she had been out of her region in an actual city. They had stayed with Lily's parents, then Cassius'. They never really left the house too much. "This place is way different than Hoenn." She looked around, taking in everything. She was actually feeling a bit hopeful. "All you think about is how good the people look?"

"Uh, yes. I like to have fun, ya know?" He winked, chuckling. She glared at him and he shrugged it off. "Natalie, you know, I think we fit really well together. I'm glad we ran away together. We're barely alike, but, ya know, we share the same emotions and back stories. We went through terrible shit together. I remember battling you for the first time. Even then, I kind of knew you'd be important."

"Cas, shut up." Natalie grumbled, embarrassed. "Look, we share the same bed. We're best friends, I get it. Now, what are we going to do?"

"Probably grab something to eat…" He thought as he glanced around, eyes stopping at a male who was shouting at his skitty. "Hold up." He started towards the boy, and the clearly distraught skitty. It was shaking, scared, as the young male continued to yell at it. "Yo, bro, what's the deal?" Cassius called out to him, Natalie right behind him. He assumed Natalie was going to stop him, but she looked pissed.

"None of your business." The male shot Cassius a glare, eyeing him up and down before looking away disgusted.

"It's our damn business when the poor thing is trembling." Cassius scooped the pokemon up in his arms, cooing at it to help calm it down. It purred, liking Cassius.

"That's my pokemon!" The boy shouted. Cassius' hand shot out and snatched the skitty's pokeball from his hand.

"Not anymore." Cassius said before glancing to Natalie. They both took off into the crowd, the boy screaming after them.

"I can't believe you did that!" Natalie screeched as they dodged people. The skitty seemed happy in Cassius' arms and Cassius was not sure what to do now.

"I couldn't leave it back there!"

"Cassius, we're trying to away from our life of crime, not continue it!" She was angry, furious even, but she was quick to pull them both into an alley and out of view from the child. "God, Cas…first day out and we're already stealing."

"Guess it's in our blood." Cassius chuckled, looking down at the skitty. "Least we did good."

"We…..we did…" Natalie mumbled, looking at the feline pokemon.

"And now, you are free." He told the skitty, hoping it would hop out of his arms. It didn't. "uh.."

"It likes you." Natalie looked at the content pokemon and back to her friend. "Maybe I could use it in contests….figured I'd give them a try, right?"

"Oh, great. I have a skitty now.." He grumbled and it yapped at him happily. "You're going to try contests?"

"I might. Nothing like hiding in an alley to make you reevaluate your life. First step of our adventure and we've already broken the law." Natalie told him, looking at her friend. "Guess we could never escape that life….we'll have to keep trying though."

"Or…just deal with it. We're still young." Cassius returned the skitty to it's pokeball and hooked it on his belt. "We'll figure this shit out…."

"Let's get out of here." Natalie told him and they stepped out into the sun, looking around. It seemed safe, so they continued through the town, keeping an eye out. "Maybe we should go to another town?"

"But…" Cassius mumbled, looking at a girl that walked by in her bathing suit.

"This will be a long adventure."


	10. Chapter 10

**Thanks for getting my references**

* * *

Mikhail blew his bangs out of his face, looking boredly around the square. They, himself, Jordan, and Leighton, were eating at a café for lunch in Saffron City.

He felt a little empty, but he had felt like this for the past six months. He kept thinking back to that morning with Cassius lying there and Natalie fighting off Shelly in a desperate attempt to save her and Cassius.

He felt awful, they all did, because they stood by helplessly and did nothing. They didn't even know if the two were alive! They could be at the bottom of the ocean and the trio wouldn't even know it. He wanted to know. They had to be alive, right? What if Tabitha got a hold of Natalie? She was tough, but, the Magma Commander was stronger. She wouldn't have gotten away if he got his hands on her.

"Mikhail, is everything alright? Do you not like your pasta?" Leighton asked, seeing him push the noodles around his plate, barely eating it. "I know you don't want to go to go watch that contest later on today, but I promise we'll do whatever you want after that."

"It's not that." Mikhail grumbled, putting his fork down. "I miss them." They all went quiet, looking at their food. "We need to find them."

"Mikhail…." Jordan didn't want to be negative, but, they all knew that there was a possibility the two didn't make it out. "This is a big world….who knows where they ended up."

"I know…but….." He and Leighton were starting to get a little teary eyed. If Cassius and Natalie had died saving their lives, they would never be able to forgive themselves. He had been thinking about Cassius a lot, every time he looked at the ocean all he could think about was Cassius, and they had been by the ocean a lot lately.

"Get back here!" They heard an officer shout as two forces collided with their table. Leighton screamed as her salad was destroyed.

"God…" A male muttered, sitting up right in front of Mikhail.

"C-C-C-Cassius?!" Mikhail exclaimed, standing up and knocking his chair over. The male in front of him looked up, his blue eyes shining as they landed on Mikhail.

"Mikhail!" He exclaimed and hugged him tightly. "How are you?"

"No time to talk." Natalie was right behind him, having been the other force that destroyed their lunch, though her eyes did light up when she saw who Cassius was hugging. "Mikhail?"

"Am I just chopped liver?!" Leighton exclaimed, overwhelmed by what was happening. The officer got closer and the two blondes looked at each other.

"Hate to not get to stop and chat but we're in a tight spot…..we'll meet again!" Cassius was off again, Natalie right by him as they hopped over a table and disappeared into the crowd.

"What…" Jordan looked at his friends as they looked after the two. "Well…..they're alive."

"GET BACK HERE!" The cop screamed, going after them.

"Looks like they haven't change." He muttered. Leighton and Mikhail just hugged each other happily, laughing and crying.

They searched the city, but Cassius and Natalie were nowhere to be found. It was really upsetting for the trio, but at least they knew they were alive.

* * *

They continued on their journey, which wasn't really a journey, it was just…wondering around. They ended up back in Lavender Town after another two months of traveling. Mikhail was happy to be home to see his sister, and Jordan was pretty at ease in his hometown. Leighton didn't mind it, because she had always wanted to meet Mikhail's older sister.

She was beautiful and she and Mikhail looked so alike, it was amazing. She was really sweet and so nurturing.

"So, tell me about Hoenn!" She exclaimed as they walked around the town one sunny afternoon. She looked so eager to hear it, but the trio had no clue what to tell her. "I heard about those horrible Magmas and Aquas! I'm so glad you three got out of there before anything happened."

"Uh…yeah…" Mikhail rubbed the back of his neck, deciding that maybe it was best not to mention Natalie and Cassius to her. They beat around the truth, mentioning the beautiful cities and of course, the blue clear waters.

"What do you mean it's not here anymore?" They heard a female exclaimed. They glanced over, seeing the backs of two people. She was pissed, that was clear. Her blonde hair was in a long braid down her back and the male next to her had his hair under a blue beanie.

"That's super shitty, man." They heard him sigh, leaning back a little. "Those poor spirits…..well, Nate, what should we do?"

"Nate?" Leighton questioned, looking hopeful. She stepped towards the two, who both sighed and turned around. "NATALIE! CASSIUS!" She was screaming now and running at them. Both look surprised but Cassius caught her and spun her around.

"What are you three doing here?" Natalie questioned as Leighton let Cassius go and hugged her.

"This is my hometown." Mikhail told them, smiling awkwardly at Cassius, who then pulled him into a hug. He felt warm again as Cassius kept his arm around him, smiling widely. "Catarina, these are our friends, Natalie and Cassius. We met them while we were in Hoenn. This is my sister." Cassius and Natalie shook her hand, smiling politely.

"We came for the tower but…" Cassius muttered, glaring back at the radio tower. "Guess it was a lost cause. Don't see how a radio tower could replace a burial ground for pokemon…"

"That's just disrespectful." Natalie complained, crossing her arms. "We came all this way for nothing."

"But you got to see us again!" Leighton exclaimed, a little offended. "It's been months and we barely spoke to you last time we saw you!"

"I'm going to head home to start dinner, will you two be joining us?" She turned to the two blondes, who looked at each other.

"Yes they will!" Leighton and Mikhail both said and Catarina chuckled and left the group, heading for home.

"So, whats been up?" Cassius asked, grinning at the group when they all stared at him and Natalie.

"Why were you being chased by cops?" Jordan asked, referring to the last time they met. The three looked at the two ex criminals. Cassius had a goofy smile and Natalie had her chin raised a bit, glancing at them before looking back to Cassius, who was now looking at her.

"Accident." They said together, looking back to the trio.

"Accident?" Mikhail asked and the two looked at each other again. "I know you two are just communicating telepathically or something."

"No no, we have our stories planned out you know." Cassius shrugged and Natalie sighed. "We ran into trouble, but, what do you expect coming from us? There was a mishap with a Skitty…..and then….a stolen part for a boat? I don't know why they were chasing us."

"You stole a skitty and a boat part!?" Leighton almost screamed and Natalie shushed her.

"The skitty thing was needed. The poor thing was being abused and we didn't mean to do it, but, that's Cassius for you. The boat part was stolen, but, the guy was an ass and kept raising the price." She shrugged it off. "He got what was coming to him."

"What did you do to him?" Mikhail asked with wide eyes.

"Natalie knocked the bastard out. We needed the part and he was being an ass about it." Cassius and Natalie didn't seem too sorry about it at all, but what did they expect? "Johto and Kanto weren't very kind to us. We're going to Sinnoh soon to go visit Lily."

"What happened to her?" Leighton asked, noticing the cheerful blonde wasn't with them.

"Family issues. Had to go back to guard the snow temple….I'll tell you all about it." Natalie said with a mumble.

* * *

"We should all go to Sinnoh together." Leighton suggested after dinner. They were out, walking around the town again. Natalie and Cassius weren't planning to stay the night, despite the others protests.

"We're leaving for it tonight." Cassius told them and Leighton gave him a look. "I'm sorry, Leighton, but we like to travel at night. It's….a force of habit."

"But you two aren't criminals anymore!" She replied, not letting them think of themselves as so. "You guys are so smart and capable of so many things!"

"It's not like all we're doing is stealing, you know." Natalie grumbled, ready to leave. She disliked Johto and Kanto. She wanted to go see Lily. She missed her friend. "We'll see you three in Sinnoh, maybe."

"I don't want maybes." Leighton whined and hugged them both tightly.

"We really thought you two had died." Mikhail mumbled sadly, catching Cassius' attention. "And then you two just ran off last time we saw you…and now you're leaving again." He felt really stupid for getting so upset but Cassius and Natalie were just…he worried about them. They were older and maybe they were wiser, but, they were his friends and he really cared about them.

"We'll be fine though." Cassius broke from Leighton's hug and moved on to Mikhail while Leighton kept her hold on Natalie, trying to convince her not to go. "We're going to get Lily and we might go to Unvoa with her so she can have some fun."

"But.." Mikhail felt weird when it came to Cassius. It was different than his feelings for Natalie, she was his friend, but Cassius was something else. "You guys can't just keep going and going."

"We'll stop, eventually, but we haven't been traveling long and this is a big world." He replied, and pulled Mikhail in for a hug. He was warm and smelled like the sea and the salty air. Mikhail didn't want to let him go. "We'll see you soon." Cassius pulled away and Mikhail opened his mouth to reply, but Cassius smiled and it stopped him.

The two ran off into the darkness and Mikhail looked after them whining. His heart hurt and he frowned, starting to realize why he felt so horrible.

* * *

"You know, when I said let's go to Sinnoh, I didn't mean my hometown." Leighton complained as they entered Sunyshore City. She didn't want to be here, really, but her parents knew she was here, because they needed a place to stay, so here they were.

"I know you aren't the biggest fan of your family…but it was nice of them to offer up a place for us to stay…" Mikhail mumbled as she led them to the apartment. "It's far away from them, right?"

"Of course."

The unpacked their few things in the apartment, luckily her parents had missed her so they were being nice and furnished the place and let her do as she pleased.

Sunyshore was nice. It was…sunny, right up by the ocean, and the temperature was always nice. She didn't know how long they were planning to stay here, but, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. The city was large with tons to do, so they wouldn't get bored, plus, Sinnoh was an amazing region.

"I guess we'll stay here a little bit."

* * *

"I don't want to be here." Natalie declared when they got off Cassius' boat in Sunyshore. Lily was right behind her, giggling. She was so happy that they decided to take her to Sunyshore too. Unvoa was lovely but they spent most of it watching Marlon, the gym leader in the tropical beach city there, flirt with Cassius.

"This place looks great." Cassius pushed them to walk towards the city. "Why don't you want to be here Natalie?"

"Bad feeling." She shivered and kept close to Cassius, he being like her security blanket. The city was beautiful, but she wasn't too sure.

"Oh come on! It's a lovely place!" Lily twirled in front of them, her bright yellow sun dress twirling with her. Natalie had no time to warn her before someone slammed into the girl, knocking her down.

Natalie was in front of her in a second, blaziken out of his pokeball and ready to attack whoever ran into her. "Watch where you're going!" She spat as Cassius helped Lily up.

"Natalie!" Lily chided as a man with a bright red afro and an awful yellow shirt looked in awe at the fire type pokemon. "There's no need to be so brash, it was an accident…" Sometimes Natalie got a little too protective.

"Your friend needs to watch where she's going." A blond male stepped up next to the red haired male. He had a blank expression on his face and Natalie glared at him two. Both were taller than her, but then again, anyone was taller than Natalie. She was barely 5'3.

"Look at this pokemon!" The red head exclaimed, looking at blaziken.

"Natalie, really, I should've watched where I was going." She patted her friend's shoulder and looked at the two men. "I'm really sorry about this." She murmured, face red.

"No worries." The red head exclaimed with a smile. "This pokemon you got here looks tough."

"Wanna fight?" Natalie questioned, lifting an eyebrow at the male.

"Natalie, that's not a good idea." Lily mumbled in her friend's ear. "That's Flint, of the Elite Four, and Volkner, Sunyshore's gym leader. He's the eighth and strongest gym leader in Sinnoh."

"Do I have to remind you who I am?" Natalie grumbled back, not impressed with the two men in front of her. Flint was excited someone recognized him and he took an instant liking to Lily.

"Who are you?" Volkner asked, looking at the short blonde girl. He didn't recognize her and she had an odd accent that he normally didn't hear in Sinnoh.

"None of your business, buddy." Natalie replied, eyeing the gym leader.

"Don't be so catty." Cassius put his arm around her shoulders and grinned at her, before looking to the males in front of them. "I'm Cassius. This is Lily and the shorty with a temper beside me is Natalie."

"I don't have a temper." She told Cassius as Lily shook their hands, smiling. She glanced at Volkner, who was looking at her with a slightly amused expression.


	11. Chapter 11

**People from Hoenn have accents. That's just my thought**

**My pokemon stories never have much pokemon in them.**

**Boring domesticated stuff**

* * *

"We don't need to be spending time with a gym leader and an Elite Four member." Natalie told her friends later on that day. Flint and Volkner had some meeting to go to, but Flint didn't leave until he convinced the three to join them for dinner later on.

Natalie didn't want to spend time with them. It wasn't a good or safe idea for Cassius and her. What if they found out about them? She crossed her arms, sitting on the top part of the bench, her feet planted on the seat part of it. Cassius sat beside her, normally, on the bench, with Lily looking over the railing at the ocean.

"But this place is so pretty." She said with a pout. "And Flint seems like a really sweet guy." Flint was really cute, and strong, and funny.

"Already have a crush on him?" Cassius smirked at her, understanding why Natalie was uneasy, he was a little, too, but Lily wanted to hang out with them, and Lily never asked for much. He didn't really figure that Volkner or Flint would even be interested in such small pests like he and Natalie. Team Magma and Aqua were long gone, and the search for grunts had to have ended quickly. No one was still looking for them. "Nate, relax. No one is still looking for us."

"Still…" She muttered, sighing.

"Sorry we're late!" Flint exclaimed as he approached the group with Volkner beside him. "You guys weren't waiting long, were you? Our meeting got held over."

"We got here a few minutes ago, so no worry." Lily said as Cassius and Natalie got off the bench. They followed Flint, who kept the conversation going.

"So where are you from?" He questioned. He was mostly directed at Lily, so Natalie and Cassius let her do all the talking. It was obvious Flint was interested in her more than them anyway. Volkner glanced to Natalie, who was disinterested in what looked to be everything around her.

It was honestly like a flip from Lily. Lily looked like she'd be wearing a pink poodle skirt and Natalie would be in the leather jacket. He kind of wished Natalie was a little more….talkative, like Lily, but then again, he wasn't up for talking tons anyway.

"Where are you two from?" He decided to try and befriend them, because Flint was into Lily and he would be seeing them often. He already had to sit through the meeting with Flint talking about her. He barely knew her and he was already crushing on her. What a dork.

"Hoenn." Cassius replied and Natalie elbowed him, shooting him a look.

"Really? Guess I should've known from the accents." Volkner replied, raising his eyebrows at Natalie. She looked at him, confused.

"Accents?" She didn't understand what he was talking about. She and Cassius didn't have accents.

"Oh yeah, your accents. I love them so much!" Lily piped in, over hearing. "They're so cute. You two probably don't notice them much. They're not that super noticeable, it's just how sometimes you cut the 'g's off your words and other little things."

"I didn't know we did that." Cassius muttered to Natalie, who shook her head. "Maybe it's because we only ever talk to each other when we're out there." He nodded towards the ocean, but he really meant the whole world. "Reminds me, where you want to go next?"

"You two just got here, come on." Lily complained, as they approached the restaurant. If they left, that meant she'd have to go back to the Snowpoint Temple, and she didn't want that. Besides, who knows when she'd see them again?

"You two travel a lot? That's pretty cool! Where have you been?" Flint asked and held the door open for all of them. Lily picked out a table and they followed her. Natalie stared Flint down as she sat next to Lily. Cassius pulled a chair over to the table and sat on the end, so Flint sat across from Lily and Volkner was forced to sit in front of Natalie.

"Everywhere, really. Doesn't matter where." Cassius replied, smiling at the waitress, who sent him a flirty look. He winked at her and he grinned at Natalie when she rolled her eyes. "We just left Unvoa. Natalie went divin' a bit for some ruins and Lily and I kicked in on the beach."

"I kicked it on the beach, you went and flirted with the gym leader, Marlon." Lily corrected and the waitress came and took their drink orders. Natalie kept her nose in her menu, not comfortable here.

"Eh, he flirted with me." Cassius corrected and chuckled.

"You went diving for ruins?" Volkner wasn't interested in Cassius, he was more into her. He didn't know why, but maybe it was because of how cold she was. She nodded her head, not looking up.

"I like history and ancient ruins and legendary pokemon." She said, looking at the back of the menu now. "Borin' stuff I guess."

"Cynthia loves that stuff." Volker wasn't going to let her brush him off. "She's the Champion of this region. You'd like her."

"Hm?" She looked up at him after this.

"Yo, Natalie, what you want to eat?" Cassius questioned, the waitress had her notepad and pen out, having already taken the other three's orders.

"Plain cheeseburger with nothin' on it except ketchup." She said and handed the menu to her as Volkner stated his order. "Let's go to Kalos next." She said to Cassius. "Megastones are hot right now and I want to check them out."

"They're spreadin' to Hoenn now too." Cassius told her and she seemed less interested.

"Can I come?" Lily questioned and Natalie and Cassius gave her a sad look.

"Your brother said we can only take you for two weeks. Have you talked to him? He's got to understand." Cassius patted her shoulder. "Just go back for a week and we'll sneak you out again. Nate's dad's friend or coworker or whatever gave us this kickass apartment here."

"Seriously?!" Lily exclaimed, looking excited. "You two are going to finally settle down?"

"Base camp." Natalie told her. "Only because my dad owes me big time and I don't know if I can keep all my books on his boat anymore. We might sink." Her dad did owe her big time and her books and sketch books were starting to weight the ship down. She just had to meet up with the guy to get the keys.

"Yeah, so, now my mom is freakin' out because I'm movin' in with a girl." Cassius rolled his eyes at this. "It's just Nate."

"Oh yeah, forgot I'm not a girl." She threw a salt packet at him. "But yeah, we'll be here, sometimes. So if you ever catch a ship down here, we'll give you a spare key and you can stay there." Natalie told Lily, making her face light up.

"Really? Thank you!" She looked so happy about this and Flint chuckled. "You'll have to let me see it!"

"I'm getting the keys today." Natalie said. She had called the guy about meeting up and she had about two hours until she was going to meet him by the actual apartments to get the keys. "Of course you'd get a key. We might not always been here when you can get away from that frozen hell, so you can kick it down here all ya want."

"Good, get all that extra stuff we've collected off the boat." Cassius sipped his water, leaning back in his chair. "So, I've been wonderin', do gym leaders and Elite Four members deal with the law? I know that's a weird question, but figured I'd ask now."

"Deal with the law?" Volkner questioned, raising an eyebrow. Natalie seemed annoyed by Cassius' question. "We're not above the law if that's what you're asking."

"Oh no, I figured you weren't immune to the law. I guess its like, do you assist the law? Does that make sense? Like, if there was a criminal on the loose in your city, would you help find them?" Cassius wanted to know if Volkner and Flint could be a threat to Natalie and him.

"Yeah, the leader of that town or city might lend a hand." Flint said, nodding his head. "If there's a bigger threat, we come out, but usually we let the police handle everything."

"Chill." Cassius nodded his head. Flint and Volkner weren't a threat. He doubted anyone was anymore. No one was searching for him or Natalie, no one cared. Well, he couldn't say that exactly. He didn't know what Tabitha would do, if he would come after Natalie or not. Still, it had been almost two years. Tabitha wasn't tracking them down.

"I guess it sort of works like when Hoenn had all that shit go down." Volkner added. "Your region's champion stepped in to help stop Team Magma and Aqua. It all worked out, right?"

"Oh yeah, Cynthia was talking about it. Think the teams are still around? I don't know the details but it's all good there." Flint said and smiled widely when the food showed up. "Were you guys there for that?"

"No." Natalie said and thanked the waitress when she gave her her burger. "No we were not. We left before that happened."

* * *

Natalie didn't want Volkner and Flint coming with them when she got the keys. The guy was a coworker of her dad's, which really meant, he worked for Team Magma. Natalie knew who he was, because she worked with him too. She didn't need him getting scared off because she had a gym leader and Elite Four member with her.

"What is your dad's job?" Volkner asked when they saw the male standing by the sidewalk, messing on his phone. He was a younger male and he was sure Natalie's dad wasn't that young. He looked like he could be up to something bad.

"Scientist." She replied and stuck her hands in her pockets. "Wait here. People make him nervous." She left them and walked over to him, nodding when he looked up at her. "Hey."

"Took you forever. How have you been?" He questioned. "Your dad said you were doing well. I was pretty surprised to hear your ran off with an Aqua." He was digging around in his pocket now for the correct keys.

"I can be surprisin'." She shrugged and glanced back at the others before looking at him again. "Like I could stay."

"Don't blame you. I owe your dad for getting me that new job in the next few cities over." He pulled out the keys, and she took them. "Alright, so, the smaller key is for the mailbox. There's an extra set of those and the main keys on the kitchen counter. Not much furniture in there. Mattresses in the bedrooms, a table or two." He shrugged. "I called the power and water company, so they'll be sending mail for you soon."

"Alright, thanks." Natalie said and he nodded his head. Volkner raised an eyebrow at them. They both looked like thugs doing a dirty deal.

"Of course. I always liked you." He brushed his brown bangs out of his face, smiling at her. "It's all yours now. Good luck kid." He ruffled her hair with a chuckle. "You've made it this far, so I'm not worried. See ya later. Call me if you have any questions." He left, jogging up the stairs that led to the road leaving the city.

"Yeah yeah, I can handle this." She called after him, twirling the keys around her finger. "Thanks!"

"Sweet, now we got a place!" Cassius exclaimed, excited. He liked to explore and see places, but it wouldn't be so bad to have a home base they could stay. "I'm getting' my own bed."

"A mattress, actually." Natalie said as she approached him. "I got us a place, not tons of furniture."

"I'm not picky. Let's check it out." He pushed her towards the apartments, wanting to see it. Natalie didn't want the gym leader and elite four member coming, but she couldn't just tell them to go.

"Don't push." She grumbled and led them up the stairs that led to their apartment. She unlocked the door and they all crammed in.

It wasn't huge, but it was nice. There was a small closet by the door for coats and also a small half bathroom. The hallway opened up to a large room. It had a couch where the living area was and the kitchen was in the back corner. There were a few bar stools, and a table on the right with a few chairs and the sliding door that led to the balcony were there. To the right there was a hallway with two doors on the right of the hallway, two nicely sized rooms with views of the ocean, and on the left was the second bathroom of the apartment and the linen closet, and another closest where the washer and dryer were. The end of the hallway had another door, which was a bedroom. It was a little smaller, but Lily declared it as her room.

"This place is really nice." Lily said as she explored it. Cassius called dibs on the first room, leaving the second one to Natalie. "It's got the basic furniture. I'm sure your parents will send some stuff over."

"Yeah, my mom will send my desk and other things over." Natalie said, liking the place. She didn't need a lot of stuff, neither did Cassius. They had been spending the last two years on a boat, so they learned to get by with what they had.

"Same. My gramps keeps complaining about all the stuff in my room." He rolled his eyes and the two blondes looked at each other.

* * *

"This place isn't so bad." Cassius said much later. It was night now and they were on the balcony. They had pulled out the two bar stools from the kitchen and set them out so they could sit and watch the ocean. "Lily is happy with Flint. Can't believe they just met yesterday. Can't believe you let her go out with him tonight without trying to talk her out of it."

"She can take care of herself." Natalie sighed, propping her legs up on the railing. "I guess it is…I don't like this whole, elite four and best friend gym leader thing, but I can deal. I shouldn't be worried, should I?"

"No, I don't think so." Cassius told her, giving her a smile. "I know it's hard, but, we left for a fresh start. We're safe here. Plus….we don't have to worry about Lily. I know she's strong, but, it's nice to know she's got a guy like Flint lookin' out for her."

"Fine. I can get used to living here I suppose." It wasn't a bad city. It was nearly perfect, actually. It had the beach and ocean for Cassius, and a huge library for Natalie. "He's a good guy."

"Let's just relax and enjoy ourselves for once….and maybe for shopping for…the necessities tomorrow…"

"Yeah, we might need food…and…plates…and blankets…" Natalie said and Cassius laughed, patting her shoulder. "This blows. Domestic life can't be for us."

* * *

"What's our color scheme?" Cassius asked while he and Natalie were looking around the store, messing with the towels. They tried to drag Lily along, but she went to Hearthome City for a grand opening of a famous coffee shop.

"What?" She asked, holding a fluffy towel in her hands. "Color scheme?"

"Yeah, we can't just get random towels." He said and they looked at each other. "Come on, your mother did have a color scheme, didn't she?"

"Yeah, she did, but…." She trailed off, thinking back to her house. "I never noticed exactly. Look, I was a little busy battling and doing other things." She put down the towel and sighed deeply. What she wouldn't give to be battling right now.

"Cassius? Natalie?" They heard a female voice questioned, before a squeal. "Oh my god, it's you two!" Leighton ran over to them, hugging them. They were both startled for a second, but relaxed when they realized it was her. "I can't believe we're actually here, together! Why are you two picking out towels?"

"Told you fate would work it all out." Cassius told her. "Nate and I got an apartment here, and we need stuff for it, like, plates and towels….and basic things."

"You got an apartment here in Sunyshore? That's so fantastic! My parents gave us one too!" She was so excited right now. "I'm doing a little shopping for ours while Mikhail and Jordan are out on the beach doing other unimportant things. What's your color scheme?! I have my parents' card, so don't you worry, it's on me!"

"Told you color scheme was important." Cassius told Natalie who rolled her eyes. "Ah, Leighton, it's cool. We can pa-"

"I'm paying." She said, narrowing her eyes and glaring at him. "So, tell me all about the apartment!"

Two hours and way too many bags filled with household items later, they were finally done. Leighton had bought them more than towels. She bought them almost everything, like sheets and blankets and pots and spoons and plates. Once Natalie rattled off a few colors, gray and a pale blue, for the towels, Leighton was off like a rocket, grabbing a cart and taking it upon herself to set them up with everything they could need.

"This is unbelievable." She said, probably for the hundredth time, as they walked back to the apartment. Blaziken was helping them carry bags, annoyed he wasn't called out to battle. "I just can't believe this. You said Lily and Flint were hanging out? Wow. Just, wow!"

"Yeah, I know." Natalie wanted to take a breather, because so much had happened in the last three days it was a bit insane. She wanted to go out and battle for hours to unwind, or go check out a contest in Hearthome City, but that was unlikely for a little while. She had domestic business to take care of.

How boring.

"This is so cool. I'm happy she's found someone. I heard Flint is a very sweet guy. He helps even out Volkner, who's a bit….I don't know. He's an amazing gym leader. You know he designed all of these solar powered sidewalks?" She questioned the two, nodding her head. "I think he's doing better. He used to be bored all the time, and it led him to become depressed, but he's been doing so much better lately, that's what my parents told me anyway."

"I liked him, and Flint. Natalie didn't, but you can guess why." Cassius said as they hauled the stuff up the stairs. Natalie unlocked the door and they went it, dropping all the bags on the floor.

"Thanks buddy, I promise, we'll go out and battle to your heart's content soon." She returned the fire type to his pokeball and looked at the bags. "And the rest is going to be delivered tomorrow?"

"There's more?" Cassius asked, feeling like his arms were going to fall off. Leighton nodded her head and started to explore the apartment. Natalie pushed the bags over to the couch, not in the mood to unpack them. "God, well, okay. Is this domestic life?" He questioned, wanting to go out to the ocean, but knowing that was unlikely. "I don't know if this life is for me."

"Oh hush. It'll be fine. Once you unpack everything, it will be great. Mikhail and Jordan were like that too. They were always moving from place to place, but they really like our place. Once everything was settled in, it was all fine. You two needed to settle down a bit. Now you'll always have someplace to go after your adventures." Leighton turned around, hands on her hips. "So, let's unpack!"

* * *

Natalie and Cassius didn't think they were cut out for this sort of thing. They were both ready to go get on the boat and sail off somewhere after finishing setting everything up. Leighton kept yelling at them for not have basic furniture, like beds or bookcases, and began ordering the items for them, despite the two blonde's protests.

"I want to go surfing." Cassius complained after a while of this, itching to get out on the ocean. "When are we going to be done?"

"Soon, I hope. I know. I need to get out and do something else." Natalie agreed. This was suffocating to her and Leighton shook her head.

"You two got here three days ago. Get over it." Leighton smacked them both over the head. "You need to set your life up first, okay? You aren't children anymore! You need a stable place to stay. Trust me, you'll be happy to go this all done later on. Once you're done here, you two can go off and play!"

"No need to shout." Cassius pouted while Natalie sighed. "Normal life is weird for us, okay? We've never had…a normal life. It'll take us time to adjust."


	12. Chapter 12

**Finally bringing in the reverse jack barakat hair**

* * *

"How happy is he right now?" Leighton questioned Natalie as they sat on the beach a few days later. Cassius was out in the water, surfing every wave he could catch.

"He's in heaven. The waves here are better than they were in Lilycove." Natalie was feeling much better. She had spent all yesterday battling and all her frustration and stress were vented out in the battles. All her pokemon were on point and she was ready to go and try out some contests.

"How long are you two planning on staying here?" Mikhail asked, under the umbrella. He had been ecstatic when Leighton brought Cassius, Natalie, and Lily over for dinner a few days ago. He was still ecstatic about it.

"Dunno. I wanted to take Lily to Kalos, but since we took her home two days ago, I doubt her brother will let us take her out again. She was really angry with us, but, I can't intervene. It's between her and her brother." Natalie felt terrible, because she didn't want to leave Lily in that cold city, but there wasn't much she could do. "We'll be here a while. Cassius is thinking about being a lifeguard here and I guess I can get a job…..ew."

"Don't be so silly." Leighton rubbed some more suntan lotion on her legs.

"Hey." Volkner greeted in his usual attire, black skinny jeans, shirt, and blue jacket. He looked uncomfortable out here in the sun. "Can you give me Lily's number for Flint? He's been bugging me about it."

"Fine." Natalie grumbled, pulling out her phone and handed it to him so he could get the number. "Does he want her address too?" This was said sarcastically, and Volkner chuckled.

"He's into her, lighten up. He's a good guy." He told her, putting Lily's number in his phone. "He's willing to brave the cold of Snowpoint City for her."

"I'm not making fun of him. He makes her happy, so I'm not going to complain." Natalie adjusted her sun glasses, looking up at him. She knew she needed to be nicer to Volkner, because he was Flint's best friend and it was obvious that Lily and Flint were going to date soon, plus, Volkner was kind of cute. Sort of. "I don't hate him. I know I act like I do, but I treat everyone like that."

"She sure does." Mikhail agreed and Natalie lifted her sun glasses to shoot him a glare. "Uh…"

"I'm Leighton, by the way! I'm another best friend." She stood and shook Volkner's hand after he handed Natalie her phone back. "That's Mikhail, and if you ever see a male with black hair and glasses with us, that's Jordan."

"Cool. Nice to meet you two." He shook her hand before glancing at Natalie.

"Do you want to join us?" Leighton asked and he shook his head.

"No, got to get back to the gym. I'm sure I'll see you all later." He nodded his head and left, trudging back across the sand.

"Oh my god, Natalie." Leighton sat down next to the blonde. "He was checking you out."

"God I hope not." She didn't want to deal with any guys right now. She didn't even get along with Volkner.

"Why not?" Leighton asked, holding onto her arm. "He's cute, talented, a gym leadeeerrr!"

"Exactly, Leighton, he's a gym leader. I know Cassius has no problem sleeping with them, but, I don't really want to get involved with them." Natalie told her, pulling the brunette off of her. "He knows something. I just know it." Volkner wasn't an idiot. Natalie had been forced to spend more time with him before Lily left, and he just knew something was up about Natalie and Cassius.

"Natalie, don't be paranoid." Leighton rolled her eyes.

"I'm not, Leighton. I'm being serious. I've been trained to detect these things." Natalie was serious, but Leighton rolled her eyes once more.

"Fine. Do what you think is right." Leighton declared and settled back on her towel. "Since you won't let me meddle with your love life, I'll meddle in Mikhail's."

"That's as nonexistent as Natalie's." Mikhail told her, not wanting her to mess with it. "I have no love life."

"C'mon, don't you have a thing for Cassius?" She asked and Natalie was now interested in this.

"No! Natalie, let's battle!" He jumped up and pulled Natalie up with him. She was thrown off by this and barely grabbed a pokeball from her bag. "C'mon, we need to rematch from all those years ago!"

"You didn't have to be so forceful about it!" She exclaimed as he jogged away from her, giving them some space to battle. She didn't even know what pokeball she grabbed, but she was sure she would beat the hot head.

"Let's go!" He called out his charizard, grinning when it roared.

"God, who did I grab?" She questioned as she threw out the pokeball. Her espeon appeared from the light and she seemed please. "Fine, I'm going to show you who's still the best, kid."

"You two are idiots." Leighton called and heard a male chuckle. She glanced around before her eyes went to the board walk that was above and behind them. It wasn't too high off the sand so she was able to see Volkner clearly. "I thought you had to go back to the gym?" She called to him and he hurried over to the stairs and went down them. He headed over to her, pulling a phone from his pocket.

"Accidentally took her phone. We have the same one." He showed it and pulled his phone out of her bag and put hers in its place. He stood, watching the battle. It was messy, mostly from Mikhail's part. His calls were all over the place, but it fit someone like him. Flint's calls were the same way. Natalie's were cleaner. It was obvious she had been trained to end battles as quickly and simply as possible.

"Think she's cute?" Leighton asked, smirking at Volkner. He raised his eyebrows and rolled his eyes at Leighton. "Urg, neither of you are any fun. Told her to lighten up and relax a bit, but no. Always got to be paranoid and serious." She complained.

"Paranoid?" Volkner questioned and Leighton realized she might have said a little too much. "Leighton?" He crouched down next to her, having a few questions he needed answered.

He wasn't stupid. He knew something was up with Natalie and Cassius. It was mostly Natalie he was interested in. She was cut off and didn't answer things straight like Cassius did, but even then, he was quick to lie and walk around the truth, like she was trained in it.

"Yes?" She asked, playing dumb. "Natalie's personal business isn't mine to tell." She watched as Charizard was thrown back by an attack and fainted. Natalie was proud of herself and her pokemon for the win.

"Alright. Fine." He could figure things out on his own. He had a few ideas anyway. "I'll see you later." He stood up and walked off again.

Leighton realized that maybe Natalie was right.

* * *

"What did you do to your hair?!" Leighton screamed, seeing Cassius' hair the next day when she and Mikhail came over. His hair was his usual blonde, but on the left it had a chunk of brunette mixed it with it.

"I like it." Mikhail said truthfully. He thought it looked good on him, really good. Honestly, Cassius could probably do anything and Mikhail would like it. He didn't know when he started to like Cassius, or why, but he knew he did. He figured it might fade away, but he wasn't so sure anymore.

"Thanks!" Cassius smiled, running his fingers through it. "Natalie did it last night. I saw it in a magazine from this guy in a band and I really liked it. I think it's cool. I sent Lily a few pictures and she thought it was adorable. Be more supportive like Lily."

"Look we can't all be kind." Leighton muttered.

"It's what he wanted." Natalie shrugged, happy she got it right. "It was actually fun to do. Hey, he's happy with it. That's all that matters." She ruffled his hair and smiled at him. "Kinda owed him for hauling my ass across the seven seas for the past two years."

"Lily is going to love it more in person!" Cassius exclaimed, wanting to see her reaction. "I'm excited that she's getting to spend some time here. I think her brother is lightening up and letting her leave for the weekends now. Flint is going to be happy."

"Guess this means you'll be stuck with Volkner?" Mikhail questioned and Natalie didn't look too excited. She just patted her red and white striped shirt, getting the winkles out of it. It was a bit long on her, but her black shorts that looked like they were originally skinny jeans but were cut shorter, poked out. The black vest she had on looked familiar and Leighton eyed her outfit, focusing on the vest and the red bandana she had around her neck.

"Natalie. That vest….was it from your original uniform?" She questioned, tilting her head when Natalie looked away. She moved her eyes to Cassius, with his white tank top and his shirt, which was really just a pinstriped navy blue and white long sleeved button up shirt, tied around his waist like a jacket. His cut off cargo shorts and flip flops completed the outfit with a blue bandana tied on his arm.

"Eh….we did some modifications." Cassius admitted, neither blondes looking at Leighton. "They were good clothes and we were going to cut them up to dispose of them anyway, so yeah, we just took the hood off of Nate's jacket and dyed it black, and I fixed up my pants…"

"And the bandanas?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Before you ask, no, the symbols aren't on them. It makes us short of match." He smiled and just got the annoyed face of Leighton. "We were thinking of getting Lily a yellow or purple or even green one so she'll match."

"You two do whatever you like." She rolled her eyes and looked at her phone. "Her ship should be arriving here soon! Let's go!" She pushed them out of the apartment and they headed towards the port. "Why didn't you go up and get her?"

"Ah, got some repairs to the boat to do." Cassius sighed, sort of annoyed. "Boats are so expensiveeeeeeee."

"This is why you're a lifeguard and I do contests and battle." Natalie told him. Life was expensive. Sinnoh contests were harder than ones she had been in before, but she wasn't letting that stop her.

"Oh yes, you do contests!" Leighton exclaimed, brightening up. "So, what's your stage name?"

"Catarina Sparks. I liked your sister's name, so I borrowed it." Natalie replied, looking at Mikhail as she stuck her hands in her pockets. Her rut sack was slung lazily over her shoulder and she yawned.

"You're getting more and more Team Aqua by the day. Look how relaxed you are." Cassius smirked when she glared at him, straightening her posture. "When did you go to bed last night?"

"I was reading this really interesting book about how the hi-" She started but the sigh that escaped Leighton's lips let Natalie know that Leighton was NOT in the mood to listen to her ramble about old myths. "This is why I wanted to dry up the sea so people like you would die out." Natalie said bluntly, making Leighton hit her and roll her eyes.

"Hey guys!" Flint waved excitedly, catching the groups' attention when they got to the port. Volkner was sitting on the bench next to Flint, stretching out. "Sorry, you guys didn't have plans with her already, right? I don't mean to crash in on them."

"Relax." Cassius said, patting his shoulder. Natalie took her perch on top of the bench.

"You never sit properly on these things." Leighton took the corner on the bench, smiling at Volkner.

"Flint, don't worry about it." Natalie chose to ignore Leighton's comment and focus on Flint. Lily was happy to see her friends, but Natalie knew she was more excited to see Flint. She wasn't angry at her for it, she found it a little endearing, actually. "You two like each other, so naturally you want to spend time with her." She was trying to be nicer to him. He complimented Natalie's pokemon whenever he saw them, and she liked that.

"Are you sure?" Flint questioned, cheeks pink.

"Flint, I've had a crush before, I know what it feels like. Rest assured, I won't try to kill you in your sleep for spending time with my best friend." How she said it was so monotone, and Flint didn't know whether to laugh or not.

"Flint, relax, I'm sure you could take her." Volkner said and Flint wasn't so sure. Volkner turned to have Natalie's sea green eyes boring into him. "What?"

"The way that you doubt my skills is truly astonishin'." She told him, ready to fight him. She wasn't a push over. She wasn't (always) a nervous wreck. She could take them both on. Even if she lost, she'd go down swinging. "I know I'm a female, but I'm pretty sure I could bench press you, and also beat you in battle." She knew she was short, but it wasn't like she was a stick. Sure, after shit went down, she lost herself and a lot of weight, but almost two years after the fact, she was doing so much better.

"Really now?" Volkner asked with a small smirk. Natalie was getting riled up, her cheeks going red.

"Yes! I'll end you quick like I was taught!" She exclaimed much to Leighton's dismay.

"Who taught you? They must have been pretty amazing if you're so confident in your skills." Volkner needed to know more about her and Cassius, but he was sure if he figured Natalie out, he'd figure Cassius out too.

Natalie opened her mouth before she shut it again. She huffed, turning to glare at the ocean, frustrated at this. She couldn't tell him it was Tabitha. "No one important." She muttered, resting her chin in her hands. Cassius shot her a look and stood by her, hoping to make her feel better. She felt her eyes get a little watery, which was embarrassing all in itself. She blinked away the tears quickly, hoping no one noticed.

Volkner noticed.

* * *

"Sorry if I had pushed it too far today." Volkner said much later on to Natalie. Lily and Flint had run of to get ice cream, leaving the two of them alone. Mikhail and Cassius were out battling on the beach and Leighton and Jordan were having an early dinner with her parents. "I didn't know it was a sore topic for you."

"Everything is a sore topic for me, so it's best if you just don't ask any questions." She muttered, angry that he had seen her almost cry. How pathetic was that? She didn't want to be here right now. She wanted to be in another region, far away from Volkner and his noisy attitude. She wanted to just get on the boat and sail off, but Lily would be upset they left without taking her and she hated to upset Lily.

"Well I'm going to want to ask questions. I barely know any of you, and my best friend likes your best friend, and vice versa. I want to know what he's getting in to."

"Listen, Volkner." Natalie sighed, grabbing her rutsack again and pulling it on her shoulders. "I left Hoenn to forget things. You being noisy isn't helping my mental state." She took a deep breath, trying to control her temper. She wasn't a kid anymore. She needed to act like an adult. "I don't ask you tons of questions."

"You can." Volkner stated calmly, throwing her off a bit. "I'm not trying to force you open and dodge questions about myself. I just want to know a few things. You're free to ask anything you want about myself, and I can choose to answer it or not, just as you are free to do. Come on, you've been so cold to me since we meet. Let's try and make this more bearable and be friends."

Natalie huffed again, knowing he was right. "Fine, sure, whatever." She agreed, crossing her arms. Her face lit up, however, when Lily hurried over with an ice cream cone for Natalie.

"They were out of oran berry so I got you hondew berry." Lily said and Natalie thanked her. "It was so hot today, he was out of almost all his flavors. I wanted a mocha flavor but that was all gone too." She whined, stuck with a wiki berry flavored ice cream.

"We have mocha ice cream at home." Natalie said while Flint handed Volkner his ice cream. "You can eat some of it tonight if ya want."

"Some?" Lily asked, wanting all of it.

"I'm not Cassius. I won't let you eat all of it. You'll get sick from his carelessness." She muttered, licking her ice cream. "I've gotta go. Cas wants me to go with him to get that boat part." She used her free hand to tug her rutsack onto her shoulder. "I swear if this guy tries to swindle us like the last guy did…"

"What happened to the last guy?" Flint asked, interested.

"Knocked the bastard out." Natalie answered bluntly, smirking at Flint's look of horror. "So I might have to do it to this guy, who knows?" She shrugged, pleased with herself. Okay, maybe being nicer to the two males wouldn't be totally bad. "You got a key?" She asked Lily, who nodded her head. "Good. Don't know when we'll be back or where this guy is, exactly."

"No more shady deals." Lily mumbled, frowning at her best friend.

"We'll make an attempt at that." Natalie told her and finished up her ice cream, munching on the cone. This perked up Volkner a bit, more interested in Natalie now. Well, she already had his full attention whenever she showed up. Something about her interested him. Plus she was cute. "But I got to go or we'll be late…and you aren't allowed in the apartment." She glared at Flint, startling him and making Lily's face go red.

"Okay, MOM!" Lily chided, pushing Natalie away. "Go do your shady business deals and stop embarrassing us!" Natalie smirked and jogged off, her bag hitting her back as she ran.

"Shady deals?" Volkner questioned and Lily laughed nervously.

"Ya know them…gotta get the lowest deals!" Her voice went up a pitch. She was lying. Unlike her two blonde companions, she wasn't good at hiding things. She was trying though. "So there's a flower festival going on in Floaroma Town tomorrow and I was thinking about going. I don't know if Nate and Cas will be back in time though. Do you want to come?" She asked Flint, changing the topic quickly.


	13. Chapter 13

"How come we get the shit deals?" Natalie grumbled as she unlocked the door to their apartment. It was morning time the next day and she knew Lily was most likely already awake. She pushed the door open and tossed her bag onto a chair in the living room, exhausted. "We can't do this anymore."

"Who cares? We got the part." Cassius was right behind her, kicking off his shoes as he shut the door. "Do you think Lily will make us some coffee? I'm so beat."

"I hope so. It's been a while since we had to go through a deal like this." The deal turned out to be a run and go. Natalie distracted the guy while Cassius snatched the part, because the bastard kept raising the price, then Natalie slammed her bag into him, knocked him over, and they took off.

"Bad deal?" They heard someone ask and they froze, eyes darting to the kitchen. Volkner was sipping coffee, reading the newspaper like he owned the place, and Flint was eating a granola bar with a glass of oran berry juice next to him.

"LILY!" Natalie exclaimed, face red. Lily stumbled out of Natalie's bed room, in her yellow sundress, Flint's favorite. Natalie had to admit it was the cutest dress Lily owned, but that wouldn't save her now.

"I didn't know if you guys would be back!" She exclaimed, putting her hands up to defend herself. Cassius and Natalie were glaring at her, both their arms crossed. "So we were going to go to the flower festival and they showed up early so I offered them some coffee and juice and I'm sorry!"

The two blondes sighed. Neither could stay mad at Lily. "I just need some damn coffee." Cassius grunted, giving in and going to the kitchen. Flint dodged out of his way, not used to seeing Cassius without a smile or at least a smirk. He poured himself a cup and poured one for Natalie. He dumped sugar and milk in one cup and stirred it around before handing it to Natalie and then drinking his. "I don't care who you have over here, Lil. It's your apartment too." He said after a long gulp.

"I'm sorry…." She mumbled.

"We just had a rough night." Natalie waved, a small sigh escaping her lips after she drank her creamy coffee. "Volkner's here, so it's fine. You can't be here unless someone else is here other than Lily." She glared at Flint, making sure he understood. Volkner chuckled, finishing up his coffee as Lily went to finish changing.

"You two joining us on this flower festival outing?" Volkner asked, folding the newspaper back up. "It's going to be so 'fun'."

"You two need to come!" Lily exclaimed from the bedroom. "Pleaseeeeeeee?"

"Can't. Work." Cassius excused, finishing his coffee quickly. "I think I'm actually running late?" He questioned, glancing at the clock. He hurried into his room and came back out a minute later in red swim trunks and a white shirt that had 'LIFEGUARD' on the back of it in red bold letters. "I'm late. I'm definitely late. Flygon?" He questioned, smiling at Natalie. She frowned and tossed him the pokeball. "I love you best friend." He smiled and hurried out the front door.

"So, you coming?" Volkner asked again, looking at Natalie. "Or will you force me to be the third wheel?"

"Come!" Lily repeated while Natalie headed to her bedroom. "They're having a cool flea market thing too! They might have books about ancient pokemon…or Latiassssss~!"

"I'll come." Natalie replied eagerly and Lily laughed, pulling her friend into her bedroom so she could change.

* * *

"Everything is bright." Natalie grumbled, glancing at all the flowers that were everywhere. She wasn't interested in the flowers like Lily was. She was more into the stalls of sellers and eyed everything they were selling.

"Flowers are bright." Volkner replied and was elbowed by Natalie in response. The festival wasn't too bad. Lily had clung onto Natalie for a lot of it and they had run off and down a few things, mostly when little kids ran up to Flint and Volkner for an autograph or picture. Now, however, Natalie and Volkner were stuck together and Lily and Flint were off somewhere.

"Not interested in the flowers. I prefer berries anyway." Natalie stopped at a stall suddenly. Volkner stopped too, confused. She stared at an odd looking flute. It looked extremely old and the end of the flute was carved like a pokemon with faded marks of red on it.

"Got your eye on an Eon flute, eh?" The seller questioned. She was an older woman with streaks of gray in her black hair. "That one is very rare."

"Sure.." Volkner didn't believe this sort of thing, but Natalie picked it up and examined it closely. "You seriously going to buy this thing?"

Natalie glanced at him and back to the flute, running her fingers along it carefully. It was beautiful, to her anyway, and she needed it. "Got a case for it?"

"I do." The lady said, pulling one from behind her booth. "You know of this flute, do you not? I've tried to use it, but, she never came."

"Do you know the tune?" Natalie asked and the woman seemed a little confused. Natalie handed her the money and she got the case. "Thanks." She nodded to her and started walking, the case in her pocket and the flute in her hands, still examining it.

"I can't believe you bought it. What is it anyway?" Volkner asked, sticking his hands in his pocket, glancing at the flute.

"You say your champion is your friend and very much into history and legendary pokemon, but you don't know of the Eon Flute?" Natalie asked, surprised. "The Eon Flute is a powerful flute that is, when played correctly, able to call Latias and Latios. This is not the true Eon Flute, it is a variation of it. This is the Eon Latias flute." She seemed excited by this. "The red marks and smaller pokemon craved into it lets you know it's Latias' flute. I don't know if it will work but I love Latias."

"Latias?" Volkner questioned and thought about the pokemon. "I didn't peg you as a Latias type of girl." He figured a pokemon a little more terrifying would be her favorite.

"No way. Latias is the cutest and I love her!" Natalie exclaimed, getting excited. "Latias and Latios are from Hoenn and are extremely important. Plus, they've never fucked anything up." She muttered. "Like Goundon….."

"I can see that." He agreed, amused by how happy she was right now. Her sea green eyes were bright as she ran her fingers along the flute, her expression one of wonder. She glanced at him and blushed, looking away.

"I know it's dorky." She grumbled, deflating her mood.

"I don't think it is. It's pretty cool. Cynthia would really love you." Volkner told her. Cynthia would find Natalie adorable. "When she visits I'll introduce you two. She's got access to tons of old books you don't."

"Really?" Natalie asked with a glint in her eyes. Now she wanted to meet Cynthia, whether she was the Champion or not. "Yeah, I guess that would be nice. I'm glad the library has such a wide selection. With Cassius, I usually only got a few days to spend in the libraries of the towns we were in and most of the books were repetitive."

"Then it's a good thing you two chose Sunyshore to settle down in." Volkner felt more at a friendly level with Natalie now.

"I suppose so. Cassius is happy and I'm glad Leighton and the others are here." Natalie put the flute in the case and slid it carefully into her bag. "Lily and Flint are good together and I'm glad they met." She shrugged and looked forward again, an odd feeling settling in her gut. She felt happy and at peace, even if only for this moment. "You aren't so bad either, I guess."

Volkner nudged her with his elbow and smiled down at her.

* * *

"So, what part of Hoenn are you from?" Volkner asked much later that day. They were by the river of the town, chowing down on some ice cream. Lily and Flint had gone off for a pie eating contest, Flint believed he could win, Natalie and Volkner didn't want to see that.

"Mauville." Natalie replied, licking her ice cream. She was relaxing more as the day continued. Cassius was right, Volkner wasn't a threat to her. "Mom and dad both lived there."

"Oh, they divorced or….?"

"Yeah, when I was ten." Natalie nodded her head. "Dunno why they ended it, don't really care. They're two totally different people, so that's probably why." She continued, enjoying her ice cream. "Dad is a workaholic, mom likes to go out and socialize."

"So which one are you more like?" Volkner asked, trying not to prod too much. He was lucky Natalie was even telling him this information.

"Ah, uh….I don't know. I used to be a lot like my dad until I met Cassius." She mumbled. "Cassius kind of helped me a lot."

"How'd you meet Cassius?" Volkner asked, noticing how she looked a little more nervous now.

"Through mutual friends." Natalie told him, not knowing how to say it. "He was tired of what he was doing and bored, and I was starting to go through that as well and it was nice to have someone who felt the same."

"What were you two doing?" Volkner asked and Natalie picked a blade of grass out of the ground, thinking. It felt nice to talk about it and not hide it, but she wasn't sure if she could trust him.

"Boring stuff. Dangerous stuff." She shrugged, not meeting his eyes. "I was tired of being bossed around and he was tired of getting his ass kicked. Hoenn didn't treat us the greatest, but we didn't really treat Hoenn well either…."

"Boring and dangerous?"

"It's not important." She finished her ice cream, eating the cone. "All that matters if that we're here now and we're okay. I mean, not totally okay, but we're better than we were before. We have a chance now." She smiled a little, resting her chin on her knees.

"What about Lily?"

"What about her?" Natalie asked, glancing at him. "Lily was a stranger. I saw her wondering around one day and she looked lost. Turns out her wallet was stolen and she had nowhere to go and she didn't know what to do, so I just invited her to stay with my mom and I. I don't know why I did it, but something in me pushed me to do it and I'm glad I did."

"Really?" She didn't seem like the type to take strangers in.

"I'm really lucky that I met Lily. She's an amazing person and she's always there for me when I need her. She's my sunshine in a person." Natalie told him, pouting at him when he chuckled. "Lily never questioned things I did. She let me do it and learn from my mistakes. I'm really happy she found Flint. She really deserves someone like him, especially since Cassius and I can be distant."

Volkner nodded his head, listening closely. Natalie didn't seem like a bad person, she just came off paranoid, like something bad had happened to her and now she had to watch her back. She was tough and fierce, despite her height. Cassius was laid back, but he was always watching the things around him closely and he was nice, but Volkner knew he could stab you in the back if he had to.

"So how about Leighton and the others?" Volkner asked, deciding to keep it going.

"Leighton and the others were more of Cassius' friend. Leighton was stupid and got herself into trouble and Cassius looked out for her. They sort of just joined the team I suppose. I didn't get much time to befriend them before. We all got separated but we're okay now. I really enjoy them. Leighton is a good person, even if she is a snob. Mikhail is kind of like poochyena pup, you know? I really love him even if he yaps a lot. Jordan holds them together and is the brains. They kind of all complement each other. They're good kids." She continued, nodding her head. "You just curious?"

"Yeah, and I like listening to you talk." Volkner said and glanced at her. Her cheeks were pink and she made it a point to not make eye contact with Volkner. "You have a steady voice."

"I've been told I have a deep voice." She grumbled, cheeks hot.

"Doesn't sound like you do. Your voice is nice. I wouldn't fall asleep if you started talking about legendary pokemon." He told her and he saw the small smile that was on her lips.

"Thanks." Natalie felt really good now. She didn't get complimented much and it was refreshing to talk to someone who didn't know all the horrible things she had done.

* * *

"So what's going on between you and Volkner?" Leighton questioned, they were, once again, on the beach. She was laying in the sun, trying to get a tan. Mikhail was huddled under the umbrella with Natalie with a hoodie on. Natalie had a book in her lap, trying to read.

"Excuse me?" Natalie asked, glancing at Leighton. "Nothing is going on? We're just friends."

"You like him now?" Leighton asked, rubbing some sunblock on her arms. "Before you disliked him, but now you two are texting and you aren't muttering under your breath about how noisy he is? Did you tell him?!"

"No!" Natalie exclaimed, shaking her head.

"Not like he'll do anything about it." Leighton replied, making sure the lotion was evenly on her skin. "He won't care. It's been two years, Natalie. You and Cassius are about to be twenty. Leave that stuff in the past."

"I don't think it's that simple." Mikhail told Leighton, understanding Natalie's hesitation in the matter. He didn't want Cassius and Natalie leaving them again. "It's a big part of their lives, while it was only a small part of our lives."

"Those teams are the reason we are the way we are." Natalie sighed, closing her book, feeling torn. "I want to tell him but I'm scared. I don't feel like I owe it to him, I owe him nothing, but…." She didn't know anymore. "Can we talk about something else?"

"So how is it going with you and Cassius?" Leighton questioned, turning on Mikhail now.

"Uh, it's going nowhere." Mikhail grunted, putting his chin on his knees as he watched Cassius. A ball hit the sand in front of them and Leighton groaned, glaring at the children that were playing near them.

"Cassius!" She shouted and he looked over from where he was standing. He was speaking to one of his coworkers who was up in one of the lifeguard chairs while Cassius was on the ground. She glared at the children and he sighed, trotting over.

"What's the problem, princess?" He chuckled, smiling at them. Mikhail stared at him, face getting red. "Mikhail, it's pretty hot out here….are you okay?" He crouched down to see his face fully without the umbrella in the way.

"Fine! I like it hot, you know, fire trainer, woot." Mikhail hated himself for saying that.

"Just drink plenty of water." Cassius said, still smiling. "So what's the problem?" He asked Leighton again, who was sitting up, pouting.

"The children need to be moved." She declared as the ball came flying towards them. Natalie's espeon used her powers and left it floating in the air before it hit any of them. She made a mew noise and sent it flying back before stretching out in the sun. "They're a hazard."

Cassius rolled his eyes but walked towards the kids, telling them to be careful with the ball and directed them to a more open area where they could play and not hurt anyone. "Thanksssss!" Leighton called out to him and he waved before jogging back to the lifeguard stand he was out before.

"Mikhail that was pathetic." Natalie declared, looking at the blond male. "You've spoken to him properly before. What gives?"

"It's when he's in that get up." Mikhail muttered, embarrassed by how he spoke. "In that white tank top and red swim trunks and in the sun where his hair is so pretty and his skin is so tan…"

"I don't see it." Natalie mumbled, looking at Cassius. "I mean, he's got muscles, but…"

"He's just him." Mikhail said, flustered, as Lily rushed up to them.

"Guys, guess what!" She exclaimed happily. "Flint and I are going to Kalos!" She didn't give them any time to guess before she was shouting out the answer. "He's got a meeting over there and he invited me to go with him!"

"How long will this trip be? Where are you two staying? When are you leaving and arriving home? Does your brother know?" Natalie asked, weighing her down with questions.

"It's only for a week and we're staying in this really fancy hotel in Lumiose City. I'm leaving in two days and we'll come back a week after. Sort of. I mentioned it, a little." Lily said with a small smile as Natalie rolled her eyes. "He'll stop me if I tell him about it and I really want to go!"

"You're an adult, Lily, you can take care of yourself and you know what's best for yourself." Natalie told her, though she didn't seem too eager to let Lily run off with Flint to another region. "So you go have tons of fun."

"I will! Let me go tell Flint that you were super cool about it! He was worried!" She ran off again, her blonde ponytail bouncing as she ran.

"He should be worried. I'll have to speak with him later." Natalie muttered, opening her book again. "He's not taking her to another region without getting a good threat from me."

"Why are you worried? Flint's a great guy." Leighton said, not getting the problem. "Let Lily live. You run off with Cassius all the time."

"Cassius and I don't have romantic feelings towards each other, for one, and secondly, Lily runs off." Natalie told them with a serious expression. "She will wander off and not tell you where she's going. You have to watch her. We almost left her in Unvoa."


	14. Chapter 14

"You didn't have to scare Flint." Volkner told Natalie when he saw her walk by the gym, probably on her way back to her apartment. She stopped and turned to him, holding a few books in her arms. Her hair was up in a messy bun and bag hung low on her back, probably filled with her sketch book and other books. "Her brother already scared the shit out of him."

"Oh, good." Natalie said with a small smile. She was happy Lily decided to tell her brother she was going to Kalos, and let him meet Flint. "I'm her best friend, that's my job."

"I'm Flint's best friend and you don't see me scaring Lily." Volkner replied, walking towards her. It was lunch time anyway, so he needed a break from the gym.

"That's because I'll knock you out if you scare her. Besides, guys don't have to scare the girls." Natalie told him with an eyeroll. She shifted her books to one arm so she could brush a strand of her hair out of her face and Volkner noticed the scar on her cheek. It was noticeable, he didn't see why he didn't notice it before.

"Where'd you get that scar from?" He asked and she tilted her head before touching the scar.

"Oh, accident when I was thirteen." She replied with a shrug, lowering her hand to help carry the books. "Anything else you need to ask before I head on my way?"

"Yeah, want to go grab some lunch?" He asked and she looked surprised. "Come on, my treat. Flint usually has lunch with me but, ya know." He put his hands in his pockets, waiting for her answer.

"Uh, sure." She mumbled, still caught off guard by it. She and Volkner were friends, but they only hung out with Lily and Flint were involved. She hadn't spoken to him much since the festival except for the few texts messages he mostly sent when he was bored at the gym. She felt awkward and out of place walking beside him without Lily or Flint or the distractions of the festival.

She kept her books against her chest, smiling at the old people that passed and waved and smiled at the two blondes. She looked over to the beach, because practically no matter where you were in Sunyshore, unless you were facing the wrong direction, you could see the beach. She saw someone waving to her and she waved back, knowing it was Cassius.

"So what were you doing out and about?" Volkner asked, knowing Natalie most likely wouldn't be starting the conversation.

"Cassius forgot his lunch." She muttered, shaking her head. "Plus I had to drop a few books off at the library." She didn't go out too much unless it was early in the morning when she and Cassius went jogging, or it was at night, and sometimes during the day, but usually only when someone wanted her to come out.

"Looks like you got more." He said as he stopped at a small restaurant and held open the door for her. She went in, relieved to see it was more like a burger joint than anything else.

"I didn't, surprisingly." She told him and picked a table near the window. She sat her bag on the chair next to her and put the books she was carrying into the bag. "I forgot to put them in my bag earlier before I left the library, but they weren't so heavy."

"I've seen some of the heavier books." Volkner glanced over the menu, already knowing what he wanted.

"There you are. Where's Flint?" The waitress asked as she approached the table. She seemed very friendly with Volkner, but she gave Natalie a questioning look.

"Hey, yeah, he's out in Kalos with his 'girlfriend'." Volkner said and the waitress laughed.

"They still haven't made it official? You'd think he was married to her with the way he talks about her." The waitress replied, shaking her head. "But it sounds like they'll have a lot of fun out there. Is this your girlfriend?" She asked and Natalie's face got red when the waitress looked at her.

"No, this is Lily's best friend, Natalie." Volkner said and Natalie nodded her head, regaining the normal tan color of her face. "She's joining me today since Flint decided to ditch me. I'll have the usual."

"Alright, you ready?" The waitress asked Natalie, not having to write down Volkner's.

"Plain cheese burger, nothing on it, and a lemonade, please." Natalie replied and she jotted it down and left them, going back to the kitchen. "Got myself a lemonade since it's your treat." She said with a small smile. "Lemonade is so expensive in this city. Who wants to pay two dollars for it? You're the gym leader, lower the price of lemonade."

"I'll see what I can do." He said as the waitress set the drinks down. "This means you'll have to treat me to lunch one day."

"Ha." Natalie muttered, checking her phone before glancing at Volkner. "You invited me out since ya didn't have Flint. I owe ya nothin'."

"There's that accent." Volkner nodded his head and she looked away, embarrassed. "Are you embarrassed by it?"

"No, I just didn't realize I had one until all of y'all pointed it out." She grumbled, messing with the straw in her drink. "I grew up in Hoenn, and then it was just me and Cassius for about two years. We visited a lot of places, but at the end of the day, it was us on a boat in the middle of the ocean."

"What made you two want to go sail around?" Volkner asked, sipping his water. He watched Natalie play with the wrapping the straw came in.

"We needed a change. Being stuck in one place for too long never suited us." She replied, focusing it on the paper. "Until we came here, of course. Now he's got a job and we have an apartment. How domesticated." She didn't seem too pleased by this. "But I guess it's alright. Boat life was starting to irritate me and it's nice having my own bed and my own room."

"You had to share a bed with him?"

"His boat isn't that big. I didn't care much because he took me wherever I wanted to go and he was a good sleeping partner. We're pretty simplistic people. We didn't need much furniture or tons of room. We work with what we have and we deal." Natalie had gotten used to it fairly quickly, but having her own bed and room again was nice.

"You don't complain much, do you?" Volkner asked, taking another sip of his drink while Natalie took a long gulp of hers.

"No time for complainin'. I'll whine, sometimes, if I don't feel good, but other than that, no. There's no point in complainin' when you have a job to do." She told him bluntly, biting her straw now. "I have no reason to complain anyway."

Volkner nodded his head and glanced around the place, waving at a few people that knew him. When he looked back, Natalie was watching him, her chin being propped up by her hand.

"You come here a lot, don't ya?" She asked, glancing around. "I guess that's a given since she already knew what you wanted."

"Flint and I come here every Monday." Volkner told her.

"Routine can be dangerous." She mumbled. "I guess you don't worry. You're strong and everyone around here seems to love you. Guess that means you're a good gym leader?" She questioned, not sure how being a gym leader went. "Leighton told us you created those solar panel sidewalks. That's pretty impressive."

"No sense in having all this sun if we don't harness the energy. This city needs to be even more environmental friendly." Volkner started. "I get bored, a lot, waiting for challengers at the gym, so I have plenty of time to come up with ideas. I'm working on solar panels strong enough to help run big sky scrapers. Those things suck up energy and they're a waste." He was waiting for her to cut him off, but she watched him intently, listening.

He continued talking about his plans until the food arrived. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until he began eating. He took a few bites, enjoying his burger as Natalie ate hers, looking out the window as she did so. "What did you mean, earlier, about routines being dangerous?" He asked as he sipped his water and then ate a few fries.

"Hm?" She asked, coming out of her thoughts. "Routines are dangerous. People could be planning to attack you, and it's not that difficult when they know where you'll be and at what time." She explained, feeling like she should shut up. That was the Team Magma talking. "But uh, it's nothing and kind of stupid!"

"It makes sense. You think about stuff like that a lot, don't you?" He asked, sensing how tense she was.

"Yeah, sort of." She admitted. She had to. It was what she trained to do. "Old habits die hard." She bit into her burger again, wanting off of the topic. They ate in silence for the rest of the meal and Natalie didn't know what to say as they stood outside the building. She held onto the straps of her bag and looked around. "Uh, well, thanks for lunch."

"Thanks for joining me. You were enjoyable to talk to." He told her and she was taken aback by that. He had said something like that before to her, but she wasn't used to hearing it.

"No problem, yeah, you weren't so bad." She mumbled, feeling flustered. "I'll catch ya later." She nodded and hurried off. Volkner chuckled and watched her go.

* * *

Natalie waited patiently at the port, ready to see Lily again and hear about her time in Kalos.

"I bet she had a blast." Cassius said, nudging Natalie. "You want to go there, right?" She nodded her head and he grinned. "Cool. We'll hit it up soon. My schedule for work is so flexible, I love it. Just tell me when and we'll set sail."

"You guys going to Kalos?" Flint asked and the two blondes glared at him, daring him to talk again.

"I told you to keep an eye on her." Natalie growled, still angry with him. Lily had ducked out on the boat home, instead going to a café she had grown to love on her short visit. It was there she decided she knew what she wanted to do with her life. Run a café!

Natalie, Cassius, and Lily's brother were all pissed at Flint for not making sure Lily was on the boat, and for Lily for ducking out and giving them all heart attacks. However, though, Lily sounded so excited and she had thought out an entire plan, with much help from the owners of that café, and they found it hard to stay mad at her. Of course, she was dropped off in Snowpoint first so she could have a long over due talk with her brother about her future.

"It wasn't his fault." Volkner stood by Flint, patting his shoulder. Natalie and Cassius ignored him as Lily's ship pulled up and docked. A few minutes later passengers got off and soon Lily was hurrying towards them with her suitcase.

"Hiiiiii!" She greeted cheerfully. Natalie and Cassius crossed their arms, annoyance all over their face. "I brought presents…."

"Oh, Cas, she brought us presents." Natalie told Cassius, who gasped, both overflowing with sarcasm.

"Presents totally make up for the heart attacks you caused us." He said to Lily. "Seriously, Lil, you can't go doing shit like that."

"You two do it." She pouted, feeling guilty.

"We're different. You shouldn't be basing what you do off of us, we're horrible examples." Natalie told her as Cassius grabbed Lily's suitcase for her. "I think you and Flint need to talk."

"Yeah, he got a lot of crap when he stepped off the ship without you." Cassius told her, but patted her shoulder. "Seriously, don't ever do that again, you had us scared shitless. Glad you found your calling in life though."

"We'll take your suitcase back to the apartment and we'll talk to you later, okay?" Natalie told her, with raised eyebrows. Lily nodded her head with a smile and Natalie sighed. She couldn't ever stay mad at Lily. "That 'amazing' café plan really better be amazing." Natalie said over her shoulder and disappeared into the crowd with Cassius.

* * *

"Her plan is solid." Jordan mumbled, for once on the beach with them. "She explained it all to me and I could barely find any flaws with it."

"I'm still pissed she called you about it first." Natalie grumbled, glaring at Leighton.

"When you're rich, people will call you first. Besides, who cares? She's getting the café of her dreams!" Lily had pitched her idea to Leighton first, who was completely all in and ready to buy the building for her. Lily thanked her and tried to turn her down, telling her she had plenty of money from over the years saved, she just wanted to run it by her before telling Natalie, but Leighton wasn't going to take no for an answer.

"You spend money too recklessly." Jordan but Leighton smiled widely at him and he gave her a small smile in return.

"I'm helping a friend! I know what's it's like to have your whole future planned out for you. She found what she wants to do and I'm going to help the best I can!" Leighton declared before settling back in her chair, soaking up the sun. "Lily has been helped, now Mikhail and Natalie."

"I do not need assistance." Natalie muttered and Mikhail sighed. "It's always us."

"It's because you two are hopeless. You have a chance with a hot gym leader and you have a chance with a hot lifeguard." She pointed at them, frustrated.

"Leighton, I'm in no position for a boyfriend." Natalie said, not in the mood to talk about this. She and Volkner spent much of the week together, mostly because Flint was gone and Cassius got more shifts. His company wasn't all bad.

"But if Volkner asked you out?" Leighton questioned, smirking when Natalie hesitated with her answer. "See!"

"N-No!" Natalie flushed, shaking her head. "He's cute and he's okay but I don't think I would say yes." Natalie defended herself, wanting Leighton to stop with this. "Look, Leighton, he's a gym leader and I-"

"Am a beautiful girl who deserves a guy like him!" Leighton cut her off, huffing. "You're not a criminal."

"Leighton-"

"You are not!" Leighton exclaimed, ending it.


End file.
